


The Adventures of Kid Loki

by AryaStark9



Category: Kid Loki - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Journey into Mystery - Freeform, Kid Loki, Marvel Comics - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-18 22:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5945806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AryaStark9/pseuds/AryaStark9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid Loki fanfiction loosely based on Journey into Mystery comics. I do not own these characters, Marvel does, and I am just a huge fan. This is my twist on what would happen if the recent Marvel/Avengers movies were mixed together with the Kid Loki fanlore. I took several artistic freedoms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Twilight draped the streets of Paris in an orange sunset. The streetlights began to flicker on as the city of lights slowly started to illuminate in the growing darkness. Street performers played their instruments in the hopes of earning some spare change. Cafes and fancy French restaurants opened to feed dinner to the hungry tourists. The sweet scents of baguettes and pastries floated through the air. Thor, god of thunder, ignored all the happenings around him as he determined not to sway from his mission. The mission was not one assigned to him by the Avengers. It was a mission he undertook himself. _I will not fail_ , he pledged to himself, _not again_.

Thor had put aside his Asgardian armor and instead donned cloths no different from any other street goer. He wore a simple blue t-shirt and some jeans. His mighty hammer, Mjolnir, was tucked inside a satchel that was slung across his back. Thor wondered through the busy streets in search of someone… his brother, Loki.

Thor was not searching for Loki in order to bring him down. In truth, that was already done. Loki was dead. He had died saving Asgard. Though, let it be known that Asgard was only in peril due to the workings of Loki himself. However, that is a different story. It had happened about a year ago. As far as anyone knew, Loki was gone. Nevertheless, one was able to find out the truth. After all, Heimdall sees everything.

***  
A few days ago, Heimdall summoned the still grieving Thor as Oden took his annual Odinsleep. “He has returned,” Heimdall stated to Thor. “Loki has returned.”

“What? How can this be?” Thor asked confused. A glimmer of hope shot through him much like one of his lightening bolts shoots through the sky.

“Loki was always gifted with tricks,” Heimdall said. “Though this may be his greatest one. It is now clear that Loki has made a deal with Hela to have his name stricken from the books of Hel so that his soul would not enter Helheim upon his death. Instead, his soul reincarnated into a new body, that of a young boy’s, who has been living on Midgard for nearly a year now.”

“A year! Why did you not tell me of this until now?” Thor boomed.

“Loki has always been hard for me to spot, especially when he does not wish to be found. Even before his death there has been a certain fog that he has shrouded himself with that is only now beginning to dissipate. I can see only now that this Midgardian boy is the reincarnation of Loki.”

“Then I must go after him.” Thor declared as he started to move towards the Bifrost.

“Wait, my prince. There is something you must know.” Heimdall cautioned. Thor stopped in his tracks and turned to Heimdall to listen. “This boy is Loki, but his mind is clouded. He does not recall everything his older self has done as clearly as a memory. He is lost in more ways than one. Proceed with caution.” Thor nodded, wondering what the cryptic Heimdall could mean by his words.

***  
Now, Thor wondered the streets of Paris, the city Heimdall told him Loki would be in. Just as Thor began to curse the gatekeeper for not being more specific, he heard a clear voice ring over the crowed. “Sharp eyes and sharp minds, ladies.” The voice belonged to a child whose words were as smooth as glass. It lead him to a small crowed of women gathered around a boy playing with cards on a small wooden table. The boy was expertly shuffling the cards as well as any card shark or magician. “No sleeves. Hands open. Full heart. There are no tricks here.” The boy was wearing green cargo shorts, well-used sneakers, a yellow hoodie and a blue jacket over it. He was skinny and obviously looked like he lived on the streets, but his enticing banter and skillful hands kept the tourists near. “Let’s see if Serrure gets lucky tonight.” Serrure flashed a smile and Thor could see two mischievous green eyes under the mop of unkempt raven black hair and the hood over his head. _This is Loki_ , Thor thought without a trace of doubt in his mind.

He was so focused on this Serrure kid that he just now realized another boy of similar age trying to pick the contents of his satchel. Thor, angered at how close the boy had come to Mjolnir, whipped around and grabbed the small thief by the scruff of his shirt, lifting him into the air. “Serrure, run!” the pickpocket said to his accomplice.

“You!” Thor tuned his glaze on Serrure.

In an instant, Serrure bounded over his card table, shouting back “Go to hell.” Just like that he vanished into the crowd with Thor chasing after him. The kid was fast, and he was agile. He wove his way through the crowed with ease whereas Thor was pushing everyone aside to get to him. Serrure was surprised at the perseverance of his pursuer and, quite frankly, was a bit terrified that this giant muscly blond man who probably wanted to crush him like a bug. “This is bad. This is really bad.” Serrure muttered to himself as he decided to step it up a little. He plunged into ongoing traffic, leaping like a gazelle from car top to car top. However, the man was still following him. “Crazy. I’m being chased by a lunatic.”

“Stop running. You won’t escape.” Thor called after him.

 _Is that a challenge?_ Serrure thought as he ran. “The hell I won’t,” he shouted back just before leaping into an entrance to a Paris underground station. Serrure tumbled over the ticket entrance right passed a startled woman who was about to pass through. “Thanks for the fare.” Serrure called back.

 _Enough of this,_ Thor thought to himself. He slowed to a walk and paid for both the woman’s fare and his own. “Always cleaning up your messes.” He muttered to himself. Thor decided to follow the boy from a distance.

Serrure, thinking that the crazy lunatic had given up, slowed to a walk as well. Man, was he tiered. He was just about to congratulate himself when a strong hand reached out from the crowed and grabbed his hoodie. The next thing he knew he was face down in the trench where the subway tracks go with the big blond guy standing over him. “You’re crazy man.” Serrure snapped at him. Serrure knew he would have to fight him now. “Show me what you got,” Serrure said with as much false confidence as he could conjure.

Suddenly, the room was filled with light as Thor glowed with electricity. Serrure shielded his eyes from the bright light only to look back and see that the big blond man who had chased him was now holding a large hammer and was clothed with shining silver and dark blue armor with a red cape flowing behind him.

“Whoa!” Serrure exclaims, “Look, I’ll give you back your money, all of it. Whatever my partner took I’ll match it back. In fact, I’ll give you a chance to double it if you just—”

“I do not want money!” Thor boomed.

“You—you’re… What language are you speaking? Your not speaking French.” Serrure stuttered.

“Neither are you. Are you?” said Thor.

“I don’t understand,” said a confused Serrure.

“You are Loki, son of Laufey and Farbuti, child of Odin, son of Bor, and brother of mine. And even for all your myriad sins, you are like me, a son of Asgard, a god.” Thor stated with finality. “You speak the All-tongue, every man hears it as his native language. For all the wretchedness of your past life… I cannot imagine my life without you.”

“You are insane big man. You know that? That’s the craziest… oh, God.” Serrure really looked distressed now. “I don’t remember anything, _anything_ , you know? I just… I’ve been making suckers chase cards for money my whole life. I don’t even remember how long that’s been. Even my name is fake. I just thought it sounded good. My memories… I have no memories. I… oh God… I have dreams. I have such hideous dreams. The things I’ve done in my dreams would convict me to the gallows in any court in the land.” Serrure was on the verge of tears. “Why am I plagued by such sights?”

Thor looked at the kid standing in front of him and felt pity. “There are things… things all of us have done in our lives that we wish we could forget. Let us just suppose that you were given a gift, eh?”  
Thor lifted Mjolnir in front of him, indicating that he wanted Serrure to take hold of it. Serrure looked at the glowing hammer with hope. “Will this help? Will you help me?” he asked.

“Nothing can erase the past. For you or anyone else.” Thor said. “All this will do is bring our paths in tandem. You still have to walk it alone. But at least, you’ll have company. Your life, ‘Serrure,’ is your choice and your choice alone.”

Serrure hesitated “I’m afraid. What if my nightmares are my memories trying to return? What if… what if I am everything I fear?”

Thor locked his sky blue eyes to Serrure’s bright green ones and said gently “You are my brother ‘Lock.’ You have nothing to fear.”

Serrure looked down at the gravel around the train tracks and then back out to the underground entrance where day had all but faded into night. For a moment, it seemed like he was looking back at the past bleak year of scrounging a living off the streets. Serrure knew deep down that he was meant for more than that life, that struggle for survival. Whether his life was to be of wickedness like that of his nightmares or a complete journey into mystery, he did not know. Finally, he looked back at Thor and Mjolnir and said, “Anything would be better than this….” Then Surrere took hold of Mjolnir.

Then with a burst of light even brighter than the one that had surrounded Thor a moment earlier engulfed the form of Surrere. He took his hand away from the hammer that Thor still held up and was lifted off of the ground. Several onlookers in the subway station stopped and stared at the blinding light that engulfed the tunnel. Once the light began to fade, the boy who had once been Surrere was now wearing a green long-sleeved tunic with gold trimming. He wore black gloves and leggings with green and gold boots. He had a canvas colored hood that fell down to his shoulders revealing a gold Asgardian circlet around his head. Loki looked down at himself and his new clothing and exclaimed “Wow, I forgot what usually happens...”

“That’s not what usually happens…” Thor trailed off as he looked upon his brother’s new garb.

Loki looked back at Thor and a playful smile spread across his face. “When did you get so old?”

In truth, it was a bit strange for Thor to see his younger bother so young once again and yet he was now a grown adult. They had not been too far apart in age when they were both kids. But now Thor found himself gazing down at his much younger brother who looked exactly as he once had in the days of his childhood. Loki may be a child now but he also had the memories of the things he had done as an adult. Actually, it was much worse than him just having the memories; the crimes Loki had committed had already been carried out along with their consequences. Thor knew there would not be many on Asgard who would forgive Loki for those things. In fact, the only person who would ever forgive him other than Thor would be his mother Frigga and she was now gone. Even with Loki in the current state of a child, to bring him back to Asgard now would be like bringing a rabbit into a den of wolves. They would tear him apart without any hesitation. After careful consideration of his options, Thor knew where they had to go. He just hoped the Avengers would be more forgiving than the Asgardians.

“Take hold of me,” Thor ordered, offering an outstretched hand to the young Loki. Loki took Thor’s hand and together they both flew out of the tunnel and into the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor and Loki soared west across the Atlantic, chasing the setting sun until they were far ahead of it. Soon, the Statue of Liberty came into sight and the City of New York behind it. At the heart of the city, stood a building that towered over the rest: the Avengers Tower. Formally known as Stark Tower, the Avengers Tower was a sleek, glistening monument whose windows glowed in the afternoon sun.

Thor landed expertly on the large balcony but Loki stumbled a little after the sudden stop. He quickly regained his balance, however. Loki looked up at the Avengers tower with a combination of awe and vague recognition. Then, a look of utter shock and terror appeared on his face. This was the place where many of the horrible things he had done in his dreams had occurred. He had stabbed his brother in this exact spot. He had thrown Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man out of those windows up there, he had staged an alien attack on the Earth from the roof of this New York skyscraper. Why had Thor brought him here? These people surly hated him. Why not bring him back to Asgard, to their home? _Where everyone probably hates me just as much_ , thought Loki to himself. Maybe there was some logic behind his brother’s motive.

Thor saw the emotions play across Loki’s face. He knelt down next to him and said, “You will be safe here. I will not let them hurt you. I promise.” Thor looked over his shoulder to see a figure approaching the glass doors. “Wait here, I must explain these recent events to my friends.” Before the figure on the other side of the glass could open the door, Thor opened it first with such swiftness that he nearly ripped the door off of its hinges. Luckily, he did not even break the glass. Loki hid behind a ledge on the balcony while Thor blocked the view towards him.

“What’s up Point Break? I thought I heard some thunder on this bright and shiny day. How’s are things in Asgard?” greeted an overly enthusiastic Tony Stark. “Come on in Goldie Locks, Cap is cooking spaghetti tonight. I’ll see if he’s put aside twelve extra servings for you.”

Tony led Thor inside where everyone in the Penthouse greeted him as well, leaving Loki hiding on the balcony. “Greetings my friends in arms. It is truly grand to see everyone once again,” said Thor.

“So what brings you to Earth, Thor?” Asked ever-polite Steve Rogers, he was in the kitchen, starting to prepare supper for everyone. Clint was fiddling with his bow and arrow on the couch. Natasha was leaning against the bar counter, arms crossed, observing the room with a mild interest, making herself look as cool as everyone knew she was. Bruce was playing around with some scientific simulations on a starkpad.

Thor’s expression looked troubled for a moment and then he uttered in a serious tone, “My companions, my friends, something has happened and I must ask a rather large favor of you. Now, please do not let the sourness of the past cloud your minds on this—”

“Sir,” spoke Jarvis, Stark’s AI, over the hidden speakers in the room. “My sensors detect that there is someone outside on the balcony.”

A puzzled look crossed Tony’s face. “Thor, did you bring someone here with you?” asked Stark.  
Cursing to himself, Thor took a deep breath and took a step back to prop the door open. “I suppose you must come in now,” called Thor.

The Avengers watched from their seats in the living room as a child’s small figure came into view from behind the glass doors and stood partially next to and partially behind the large thunder god. He was dressed in Asgardian garb just as gaudy as Thor’s only with a green, gold, and black color scheme. He was uncomfortably skinny with pale skin, black hair, and strangely bright green eyes. The boy was looking very unsure and glanced at the Avengers like they might rip him to shreds at any given moment. Natasha looked intently at the child’s face, as did the rest of the team, and found something vaguely familiar about it. Clint, however, saw the familiarity in the kid’s face and immediately and almost irrationally so, jumped to conclusions. I was far-fetched conclusion but not that far off from the truth. He sprung from his spot on the couch with his bow in hand and aimed an arrow strait between the young Loki’s eyes. “It’s Loki.” Clint said in an even tone but with enough hatred behind his voice to make a possessed demon sound friendly.

All the team members in the room were now on edge. Natasha whipped out a hidden gun and pointed it strait at Loki. Steve dropped the cookbook and took his Captain America stance at once. Bruce, in the corner seat, immediately starts doing some breathing exercises so as not to unleash the Hulk. Tony, looking very upset and probably wishing he had his Iron Man suit on, just starts shouting “Loki! What? I thought you told us he was dead? Why the Hell did you bring him here?”

“It’s gotta be a trap,” cuts in Hawkeye. “He must be playing Thor or something.” Clint drew his arrow back even further, hoping to soon get some long-awaited revenge.

Thor steps between Clint and Natasha’s shots, shielding Loki. “I shale only say this once,” Thor says with all of the intensity of a mother bear protecting her cub. He has Mjolnir gripped tightly in his hand, ready to throw it if need be. “Drop. Your. Weapons.”

Natasha lowers her gun. Clint hesitates, not sure that he wants to get on the bad side of an immortal alien god of thunder, then decides to do the smart thing and lowers his bow and arrow.

“Thor, explanation, now,” demands the Black Widow, her eyes showing the same fiery intensity spread across Clint’s entire form.

Thor looks into the eyes of each and every one of his teammates, and then starts, “This is indeed Loki. Though, not the Loki you have known before. The Loki that you once stopped from attacking New York is dead. The child that stands behind me is Loki’s reincarnation.”

“You expect us to believe that?” Tony asks with more than enough skepticism for the entire group.  
Thor continues, “Aye, It is true. It would seem that, before his death, my brother made a deal with Hela, ruler of Helhiem and the keeper of Asgardian Souls, to erase his name from the books of hell in order to cheat death. However, even he could not guess as to how these events would unfold. He is now a child with no magic and has no intention of repeating the transgressions of his older self.”

“So you think that just because he looks five now that we won’t hold anything against him?” Clint asks angrily.

“I’m elven.” Loki speaks up for the first time. “I think.” He then notices everyone’s glares and looks down again.

“I brought him here because there are those in Asgard, Odin included, who would see fit to kill him upon first sight. I had hoped my friends on Midgard would be more understanding. I thought that you believed in second chances.” Thor looked around at his teammates who still seemed quite unsure about the whole situation.

 _This isn’t going to work_ , thought Loki. _Well, they didn’t call me Silver-tongued for nothing. It’s time I take the stand_. Suddenly Loki stepped forward from his protected place behind Thor. Clint looked on edge and Thor glanced nervously at Loki. All eyes were on him. “I do not claim to be an innocent child. I am Loki, and I did do all of those horrible things my older self has done. I am plagued by nightmares every time I go to sleep. I now realize that these nightmares contain memories and these memories are nothing short of experiences. I have wronged each and every one of you as well as countless others over the span of my past life. I will not ask for your forgiveness, because I am sure I will never deserve it. Nevertheless, I apologize. All I ask is that you give me a second chance to prove my sincerity to you. I do not wish to be become the monster that I once was. If I am wrong, if I stray from my path to do better, then I will agree to any punishment that you see fit.”

The room was in silence. Everyone, including Thor, was in shock and awe at the words that had just left Loki’s mouth. Finally, Captain America, who had stayed quiet for most of the encounter, spoke up, “Life can be tough. It usually takes more than it gives. Sometimes it takes so much that we’re not left with anything but a curse on our lips and a whole heck of a lot of regret. Not everyone gets a second chance at life,” Then Steve’s expression toward Loki softened a bit, “Don’t waist yours.”

There was an annoyed grunt form Tony “Maybe you’re forgetting Capsicle, but this guy through me out of a window. He wreaked New York and killed on a whim. I’m also guessing by the pissed off look of Katiniss Everdeen over there that he hasn’t forgotten how Loki wound him up like a toy soldier.”

“You got that right,” said Clint. “Wait what did you call me?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at Stark.

“I say we give him a chance,” said Bruce, looking closely at kid Loki.

“What?” exclaimed Clint, “You gotta be kidding me!”

“A chance with conditions,” said Natasha. “Like a sort of probation.”

Thor, looking pleased at the overall consent, then turned to Tony, “What say you Stark? These are your halls after all.”

Stark looked sternly at the little trickster god. “Probation,” he said flatly. “You don’t leave this tower unless you are told to and you are with someone. You keep out of my lab and out of my way. I don’t want to see any tricks and if you do anything that causes harm to anyone, I call Nick Fury and he implements his ant and boot policy. Got it?”

Loki looked at the inventor with a face that betrayed the slightest hint of hope. However, he kept his posture businesslike and extended a hand to Tony. “Agreed,” he said. Tony looked at the outstretched hand for a while as if it might bite him then offered his hand to shake and thus, sealing the deal.

“So who want’s some Spaghetti?” asked Steve.

***  
They all sat around the dinning table in an uncomfortable silence. The tension in the air was almost palpable. Loki sat next to Thor and was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Steve served his Spaghetti into every bowl at the table. Loki looked at the steaming pasta in front of him with hungry eyes. He hesitated for a moment, not believing that all this food was his. After a quick glance around the table, he saw that everyone else had already started. Loki quickly gave in to his starving stomach, shocked at how hungry he really was. He tried to maintain some semblance of manners such as eating with a fork and pausing to chew his food. Loki knew he was still eating to fast and this did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table.

“Slow down kid, the food’s not going anywhere,” said Steve. “There’s plenty of seconds for everyone.”

Loki snapped out of his ravenous eating and paused to take a breath. “Sorry,” Loki apologized, looking down at his now practically empty bowl. Steve passed the serving bowl of Spaghetti down to him so that Loki could fill it up again. “I guess I haven’t eaten in a few… days.” He said the last word quietly, hoping they would let it go.

“Why is that?” asked Bruce. The doctor part of him began to see the thinness in Loki’s limbs and face, the circles around his eyes. The kid was obviously malnourished.

Loki looked around at all the curious faces at the table. Thor glanced down at him with a concerned look in his eyes. Uncertain if he should share, Loki began to eat his food slowly. Finally he answered, “Before Thor found me, I was living on the streets in Paris.”

“Paris? How exactly does this whole reincarnation thing work?” asked a befuddled Tony.

Loki paused, unsure how to answer the question. “I don’t know much about the whole deal that my older self made or anything, but I do have a few memories that are just my own,” said Loki. Before he knew it he just started pouring out his life story. “They found me half drowned to death in the Seine River after a large thunderstorm. I had no memories, not even my own name. They— the authorities— put me in the hospital where the doctors figured I was about ten years old. That’s why I figure I’m eleven. It happened a year ago. I was in the hospital for a month. After nobody claimed me, they sent me to a foster home. I was there for about two months. Nobody really cared about us there. Kids ran away all the time. So it wasn’t like anybody noticed when I did. I lived on the streets in Paris then. Mostly doing card tricks in order to pay for my next meal.” Loki stopped and put down the garlic bread he had been eating. The food suddenly lost all of its appeal to him. He stood up and simply said, “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“You just said you hadn’t eaten in days,” countered Natasha.

“Jetlag,” was all Loki said before he walked out of the room, leaving the avengers in shock.

Loki just wanted to get as far away from them as possible. He needed to be alone. “Sir,” Jarvis’s voice rang out. “I am to inform you that your room you shall be staying in is down the far hall and on the third door to the left.”

Loki heard the AI but did not acknowledge it. He hastily walked to the specified room and slammed the door behind him. Why had he just told them that? Why couldn’t he have just kept it to himself? Why had he so easily let out the truth? He was the god of lies! Why had he so readily let slip his whole life’s story? Loki hated it. He hated that he had told the Avengers the truth about his pathetic existence. He should just lie, stick to his nature and all.

Loki glanced around the room, taking it in for the first time. It was obviously just a guest bedroom, although, it was quite nice considering Stark’s taste for the overly expensive. The room was painted gray and had a thick carpet underfoot. The window took up the entire far wall and was framed by thick red curtains. Through it one could see the New York City skyline along with all its bright lights and busy streets. There was a queen bed with red sheets that looked quite comfortable. A nightstand was placed next to it with a strangely modern looking lamp and a high-tech digital alarm clock resting on it. There was a dresser in the corner. Loki assumed that it must have been empty. A small desk and chair sat in the other corner. As a finishing touch, a piece of modern art that strangely resembled the cosmos hung on the wall. Compared to the dank allies that Loki was used to sleeping in, this place could have been the halls of Valhalla for all its luxury.

After he was done visually inspecting the room, Loki took off his gold circlet and hung it on the corner of the desk chair. He then pulled the black hood from his head, exposing his unkempt mop of black hair. He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to alleviate some stress. His hair felt rather dirty. Touching Mjolnir may have restored his memory and given him new clothing but it had obviously not cleaned the grime of the streets off of him. There was a door leading to an adjoining bathroom that was apparently all his. He stripped down and hopped into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven as it gently cascaded down his pale skin. Slowly, the water rinsed away all the dirt and grime which were the last remnants of Paris Loki had. Once he got out of the shower, he stopped and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He was skinny; there was no denying it. Despite not finishing his seconds at dinner, that was undoubtedly the best meal he had had in his lifetime. His skin was pale, but that is to be expected as he usually did most of his work at night and slept during the day. He realized his hair was longer than he had thought now that it was wet. It framed his face and then flared out a little on the ends. His eyes were such a bright shade of green that they almost seemed to glow. His eyebrows had a certain curve to them that made it seem like he was always being mischievous. But this did little to distract from the dark circles under his eyes. Now realizing just how tired he was, he dressed in nothing but his leggings and fell asleep almost as soon as he hit the bed.

Then came the nightmares.


	3. Chapter 3

_He was hanging off the severed end of a bright, multi-colored bridge, dangling over the vast cosmos. He held the end of a staff, while looking into the sky blue eyes of a big blond man dressed in armor. The eyes were caring and concerned. But for some reason, he despised the blond man who was the only thing keeping him up by grasping the other end of the staff. He could not bear to be held by him a moment longer. “Loki, no.” cried the man with the long blond hair. The man could see what he was about to do. He let go. “Nooooo!” the blond man cried to him as he fell into the abyss. The darkness of space engulfed him._

_He was surrounded by hideous creatures who were big and had gray skin and hideous faces with mouths opened wide with pointed teeth. They were torturing him. All he felt was pain. He knew he had to keep his promise to them. This session of brutality was just a taste of what sort of pain they could bring upon him if he failed. If he succeeded, then he would not only be fulfilling their needs, but his own as well. This thought was enough to make him smile. At that point, he started laughing hysterically while the torture commenced. He was truly insane, and worst of all he knew it... and embraced it._

_He was in a fine hall, with upper-class society dressed in fancy clothing. He too wore a suit to match theirs. They were all having a grandiose time, laughing and drinking champagne. He was about to have some fun of his own. He smacked a man out of his path with his cane. He grabbed his targeted victim by the scruff of the neck and flipped him backwards onto an alter. The alter was in the form of an ox that these pathetic mortals once used to worship. How fitting that this man should be sacrificed upon it. He took out a sinister looking device and gouged it into the eye-socket off the man. People screamed in terror. He smiled._

_In no time at all, the mortals were running away from him. He flipped a car just for the thrill of it. He was now dressed in his kingly attire of green and gold. He supported a golden helmet with large, curved horns and wielded a staff with a glowing blue gem in it. With a quick spell he multiplied and surrounded the panicking civilians. “Kneel before me!” He demanded madly. “I said KNEEL!”_

***  
Loki bolted upright from the bed. He was tangled in sheets and dripping sweat. He had had these sorts of nightmares before. In truth, this was not the worst. Sometimes they were so bad that he would throw up as soon as he awakened. The worst part of those dreams, though, was not what went on in them. The worst part was sharing the same feelings with those of the mad man he was in those dreams. Now that Loki knew it was Loki and that he was Loki, he just felt worse. He had done those things. He had done, evil and terrible things and _enjoyed_ them. _What kind of monster am I?_ Loki thought to himself.

After taking several moments to calm down, he looked at the digital clock beside his bed. It showed 5:43am. He might as well get up. Loki dressed in the only cloths he had and quietly walked out of his room into the living room of the penthouse. Through the vast wall of windows, he could see that it was still dark out. The street lamps and several lights still glowed down in the city. Loki sat down in an armchair by the window, hoping to see the dawn that would soon come. He fiddled with a stack of magazines on a nearby coffee table. Then, underneath a special issue about a new Tony Stark design, Loki saw a half-torn apart envelope with a note attached to it. It read:

Thor,  
I know you care for Earth technology just as much as I care for Asgardian magic, but I’m giving one to everyone on the team. Give it a chance and try not to break it.  
-Tony

Inside the package was a brand new starkpad. Loki wondered how long it had just been sitting there under all the clutter on the coffee table. Thor obviously had not put much stock into it and Stark probably had hundreds of these just lying around the tower. Deciding nobody would miss it, Loki turned it on and went to the search page. He typed in Loki on the search engine. What he found was mostly news articles, video clips, a Wikipedia page, and some Norse Mythology references. He surfed through the pages, finding videos taken of him in Germany and during the battle of New York. The Loki on the YouTube videos had the same maddening look in his eyes that Loki felt every time he was his older self during his dreams. The news articles typically said something along the lines of:

The alien menace, Loki, adopted brother of Avenger, Thor, led an extraterrestrial attack on New York. Many confirm that the city was only the staging point for what could have become a worldwide catastrophe if not for the heroics of the Avengers…The Loki that came to Earth shares the same evil demeanor as that of his ancient description in Norse mythology as the God of Mischief and Lies… often the villain in many tales, has proven to be a villain in reality…

Loki stopped reading. It wasn’t doing him any good to dwell on the same things that his dreams had confirmed. After touching Thor’s hammer, Loki new they were not just dreams, though. Along with that unsettling fact, Mjolnir had also restored memories of things he had never dreamed about. Loki could now vaguely recollect his childhood growing up on Asguard. He remembered many of the adventures he and Thor had gone on. He remembered Sif and the Warriors Three. These memories were not truly whole, though. They were faded like the photos from a scrapbook that was forgotten in an attic for decades. They were bent, boxed around the edges, and some had succumbed to damage with no hope of restoration. Still, looking at them, he could remember himself doing all those things. And with a small glimmer of hope, he could see that not everything in those memories were bad. He had always had Thor. They were brothers. Or at least that was what he had been told most of his life. Maybe that is why it had had hurt so much to find out it was all really a lie. But was it? Despite everything, Thor still claimed him as a brother. Even if the Loki in his past life would deny it profusely, Loki would still like to believe they were still brothers.

The sun started to rise over the horizon, outlining the cityscape. The sound of a door opening caught Loki out of his daze. Steve Rogers walked past the living room, not noticing Loki, who sat motionless in the corner chair, and strode strait into the kitchen. Obviously he was the morning riser in the bunch. Loki looked on as Captain Rogers took a carton of milk from the fridge. After a quick glance over his shoulder back towards the hallway, the captain took a long swig striate from the carton.

“Ever think about using a glass, Captain?” Loki called from the living room. Steve jumped a little and choked a bit on the milk. Loki could not resist catching Captain America doing something immoral, though ever so small the act was.

“Oh, hey… didn’t see you there,” said the captain guiltily, wiping milk off his chin. “Did you sleep well,” asked Steve, trying to change the subject.

Loki’s face fell. “I’ve had worse nights.” He said evenly.

Steve looked at Loki for a while. It was obvious by the way Loki’s face had hardened that it had been a really bad night. Deciding not to pry and let the kid keep it to himself if he wanted to, Steve asked, “Did you want some breakfast? How do pancakes sound?”

“I’ve never had pancakes before.” Admitted Loki.

Steve’s face lit up. “You’re gonna love them,” He promised. “Trust me.”

Once the pancakes were made, both Steve and Loki sat at the breakfast table to enjoy them. Not too much later, Bruce came in followed by Natasha, Clint, Thor, and finally Tony. Bruce greeted them cheerfully and fixed himself a cup of calming tea. Natasha simply sat at the table and acted as if it was just any other ordinary morning. Clint came in and upon seeing Loki, grew a sour expression on his face as if he had just sucked on a lemon. Thor greeted Loki enthusiastically with a hug that nearly squished all of the air out of Loki’s lungs, and then sat down to gobble up a heap of pancakes. Tony had obviously been up almost all night in his lab as usual and had about four cups of coffee before fully regaining consciousness.

“So kid,” Natasha said, turning her gaze upon Loki. “Those the only clothes you have?” she asked, gesturing to Loki’s rather medieval looking Asgardian clothing. Loki just stared at her, wondering what she was getting at. Natasha stared back and said, “I think Thor and I should take you shopping for something a little more… normal.”

Loki agreed. Tony and Clint both started to protest about taking Loki out of the tower, but with a frightfully stern look from the Black Widow, they silenced their protests. After all, a demigod and a mater assassin could surly watch over a child.

With Thor changed into proper Midgardian attire and Natasha dressed like any other woman gone shopping, they took Loki a mall not far from the Avengers Tower. Loki picked out a series of hoodies, t-shirts, cargo shorts, some jeans, a pair of pajamas and some sneakers. He favored mostly green and a few dark colors. “What? I have a signature look,” was all he said. They purchased the clothing with a credit card Tony had set up for Thor, which basically converted Asgardian gold into a form of cash usable on Earth. Loki changed into some of the new cloths before leaving the store, so as to avoid the curious looks he had gotten upon entering the mall with his Asgardian cloths on. He now wore a yellow t-shirt underneath a dark green hoodie and some black cargo shorts. Loki walked out of the store with his hood pulled up, hands in his pockets, and a hint of swagger.

***  
Loki spent the next few days at the Avengers tower mostly locked in his room, surfing the Internet and reading books on the starkpad. He recalled his first childhood spent on Asguard, mostly spent reading the vast amount of books the libraries the great halls of Oden had to offer. Loki had never been as keen as Thor to spar with weapons against the other children. He much preferred to study all the nine realms had to offer on knowledge and magic. The starkpad may only draw information from just one realm, but it was a vast collection indeed. With the starkpad, there was no limit to the amount of knowledge he could acquire. And knowledge was a trickster’s ultimate weapon, that, and of course magic, which Loki still cursed for not having.

Loki could not spend forever just reading though. He became restless one day and decided to venture to other parts of the tower. At first, he tried to be stealthy so as not to run into anyone. After much intriguing exploration, he ran into nobody. “Jarvis,” Loki spoke out in the hallway, not sure where to direct his voice or that the AI would even listen to him. “Where is everybody?” he asked curiously.

“They are in the gaming room, Sir,” replied the AI.

“Game room?” Loki wondered out loud.

“Yes sir, on floor seventy-six,” Jarvis clarified.

Deciding to pay the Avengers a little visit, Loki hopped into the elevator and punched in floor seventy-six. Besides, he was interested in checking out this game room too and possibly having a little fun. Loki was about to enter the room. But then, he had a thought. A mischievous smile spread across his face.

The game room was equipped with a wall sized TV and a wide assortment of video games and their consoles. There was also a pool table, Ping-Pong table, air hockey, and a foosball table. And no state-of-the-art game room was complete without a fully stocked snack bar. Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were playing Super-Smash Bros. It was clear that Natasha was winning. Tony and Steve were at the Ping-Pong table, the captain having served a winning fast ball right past Tony’s head. Thor sat at the snack bar, eating popcorn and questioning the details of the video game and how it proved who was a stronger warrior.

“Hey guys!” Loki exclaimed, seeming to appear out of nowhere right behind the couch of now startled video gamers. Everyone seemed to jump a foot high in surprise. Clint had dropped his controller and started to instinctively grasp his bow that was, at the time, not with him. Thor dropped the bowl of popcorn, spreading it all over the floor.

“What the Hell! Where did you come from?” asked a befuddled Stark. “Thor,” Tony immediately turned to Thor. “I thought you said he couldn’t use magic!” he accused.

“Who said I used magic?” Loki said nonchalantly, flipping over the armrest and stretching himself out comfortably on the couch and grabbing a potato chip from the bowl on the coffee table. He wore his best poker face.

“Then explain how you just seemed teleport yourself in here,” demanded Tony.

“Trade secret,” was all Loki said, giving the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist a wink. In truth, Loki had climbed through the air vents from the hall, into the room. He had come out on the far side of the game room next to the air hockey setup and had stealthily sneaked behind the couch. It had not been that hard. The video game was blasting loud enough and everyone was so engrossed in what they were doing to even notice him.

“What are you doing here?” asked Clint bitterly.

Loki looked up at him and smiled. “Well this is a game room, so I thought we could have a little fun.”

“It’s about time you got out of your room, if you ask me,” stated Natasha.

“So what cha playin’,” asked Loki, popping another potato chip in his mouth.

“Super Smash Bros,” replied Bruce. “You want to play?”

“No way am I _playing_ with kid psychopath over there,” said Clint stubbornly.

“What? Afraid I’ll beat you, Robin Hood?” taunted Loki mischievously.

“You wish,” snapped Clint. There was no choice. He had to beat that little brat now.

Loki took on each of the Avengers in the video game and won every time. He almost lost to Natasha though on several occasions and again when the others decided to team up against him. Loki was fast and anticipated their moves. He memorized every fighting style the video game avatars had and was quick to find their weaknesses. Loki always made sure to rub his victories against Clint right back in the Archer’s face. After one particularly nasty victory over Barton, Loki bust into a new round of taunts. “Didn’t see that that one coming, did ya, _Hawkeye_?”

“I am so done with this game!” declared Hawkeye, throwing down his controller in defeat.

“Don’t be such a spoilsport, Clint,” chided Widow.

“Yeah, bird brain, I’m sure if we played again you could win.” Loki said, trying to reel the archer in for another beat down.

Clint just got angrier. “If this were a real fight, I’d totally whip your sorry butt.”

“Is that a challenge?” asked Loki, now intrigued.

“Guys, lets not fight here,” said Captain America, placing himself between the two.

“Cap’s right,” said Tony, stepping forward. “There is a better place we can resolve this.”

Despite the protests of Captain Rogers, Tony led his team and Loki to the sparing floor on the gym level of the tower. Thor protested as well, not wanting to see his little brother get hurt.

“So this is how it’s gonna down,” explained Tony. “Thor, Steve and Bruce have all expressed their objections to making this a real fight. So, instead of the usual ‘whoevers first down and stays down’ sparing, we’re going to do something a little different. We’re gonna do a game of keep away. I have a starkphone right here.” Tony lifted up a sleek looking black smartphone. “Hawkeye, catch.” Tony tossed the phone to Clint who caught it in midair. “The objective is simple. Loki’s just got to retrieve the starkphone from Barton. Well put a time limit on it. About fifteen minuets.”

“What do you say we make this more interesting?” inquired Loki a smile split his face.

“I’m listening,” replied Barton.

“Winner gets the last box of Pop-tarts all to himself,” said Loki. “Loser is on cleanup duty for a month.”

Hawkeye smiled. “Deal.” He turned to Tony. “Start the clock.”

As soon as those words left Clint’s lips, Loki came at him with speed Clint didn’t even think possible. He blocked the first few attacks, holding the starkphone out of reach. Loki pressed on. Clint new he had to step it up. He struck a few blows at Loki who cleverly evaded them. This was getting on Clint’s nerves. Sure Loki was a kid, but he was making the master assassin look like an armature. Loki actually got a good kid at Clint’s ribs. Clint got a little bit angrier and started to fight Loki with all of his skill, no holding back. He started to hit some glancing blows at Loki until Clint finally punched the kid strait in the nose.

Loki stumbled back a bit and fell to the floor, clutching his nose that was now bleeding. All Clint could think was _Oh shit! Thor’s gonna beat the shit out of me with his hammer_. Indeed Thor was enraged and started to walk towards the now panicking archer with a deadly look on his face.  
Clint knelt by Loki. “Kid! Ya gotta get up! You’re all right, right? Please tell you’re brother that I didn’t mean to—”

Slowly, Loki’s sobs turned to laughter. Thor stopped in his tracks and everyone stared at Loki who’s laughter seemed mad given the current situation. Then, Loki held up the starkphone and declared, “I win.”

“You little shit!” cried Hawkeye, forgetting that Thor was right next to him. “You’re insane! Did you purposely take that blow just so you would win?”

“If that was my plan, then I’d say it worked perfectly,” stated Loki, trying to stop the blood running out of his nose. Bruce came over and handed him a towel.

“You’re insane, kid,” was all Clint could say.

“Actually I’m hungry,” said Loki, pressing the towel to his nose. “I could go for a snack. I think all have some pop tarts.” Loki turned to exit the room. “Oh, and Barton,” Loki called over his shoulder, “have fun with the cleanup.” And with that said, the little trickster took his leave.

The crowd of Avengers had amused looks on their faces. Thor ran after his little brother to make sure he was OK. Clint was left with some blood to wipe off the floor. _Well played kid_ , he thought, _well played_.


	4. Mr. Magpie

Loki woke to the tapping sound on his window. He had been sleeping better these last few nights, but, as fate would have it, there arose another issue. During his slumbers, Loki constantly got the feeling that someone was watching him. He always woke just as the tapping sound from his window stopped. However, when he awoke this night, Loki saw what had been tapping on his window. A black bird that resembled a raven but with a white chest was flapping his white tipped wings, hovering just outside the window of Loki’s Avengers Tower room. _A magpie?_ Thought Loki, quick to identify the type of bird. The magpie tapped his beak on the window a few times more then flew over to where Loki suspected the windows to the living room were. It was strange, but Loki felt the need to follow the mysterious bird. He got out of bed and headed for the living room. The magpie rested upon the railing of the balcony outside, the starless night of New York City spread behind it. Hoping he wouldn’t trigger any alarms, Loki stepped out on to the balcony. “What is it Mr. Magpie?” he wondered out loud, keeping a steady eye on the bird.

The magpie fixed his eye upon the boy and squawked out one word. “Loki.” Then the ground fell beneath Loki’s feet as darkness enclosed all around him. The closest thing Loki could describe the feeling to was from his faded memories of going through portals. He fell into blackness that seemed like it would go on for an eternity. Then, with a jolt, Loki crashed upon a floor he did not see coming. After such a long fall, he was shocked to find that he was all right. He realized that going through the portal had also put him in his Asgardian green and gold cloths. He pulled himself off the ground and turned around to face a stone pedestal with a shining gold helmet on it. The helm supported two large protruding horns and Loki immediately recognized it as the favorite accessory of his older self. Sitting atop the helm, resting between the two horns, sat the magpie.

“Hello, Mr. Magpie,” Loki greeted the strange bird.

All of the sudden, bright green light shot up all about Loki and spiraled together to create the form of a man. Loki’s eyes widened with terror. Standing before him, shimmering like a ghost made of glowing green light, stood none other than the adult Loki himself. “I am Loki, whose tongue was an anvil where the sharpest lies were forged. I am Loki, whose whim brought you here. I am Loki, who you must not trust,” stated the ghost with pomp and arrogance.

The young Loki was quick to gain his wits. “What are the chances?” he said with his best poker face, “I’m Loki too. We should be the very best of friends.” Loki paused and looked at his surroundings. A ring of green flames encircled Loki, the ghost, and the magpie upon the helm. Beyond that, there was nothing but darkness. “Where am I? What are you precisely?”

“I am the echo of a scream. This room is hidden behind a whim, buried in a daydream, covered in bad thoughts and malice,” replied ghost Loki. “It is my message from me to you; from me to me.”

Kid Loki fixed his gaze upon the adult Loki’s ghost. “Then speak it, elder-self. I know the tale of how you died. Explain what puzzles me so. After you brought destruction to Asgard, you scarified yourself to save it?” Loki questioned.

The ghost Loki gave kid Loki a playful stare. “Is that right?” he asked his child-self with a quizzical tone.

Kid Loki thought for a moment, and then said, “No, it’s not.” Loki looked strait into the chaotic green eyes of his own ghost, tying to riddle out his scheme. “If you wanted to live, you would have would not have brought destruction to Asgard if the first place. You could have avoided battle all together. You chose to die. That means you wanted to die. That means you _needed_ to die. There is only ‘why?’”

Adult Loki smiled. “There is only one who Loki would sacrifice himself for.”

Then, kid Loki began understood some of it. “You sacrificed yourself… for yourself?”

“I am a god of chaos. I must be unpredictable. It was clear to me that I had lost all my illusiveness after so many a year being that that I am. I had to evolve into something new. I wrote myself out of the book of death. I slipped predestination’s noose. All I had to do was cut myself off, though not fully, from what would become my new body for a time. After a glorious death, I would be found or find my way back. A new Loki: a fresh page with fresh ink to write a free future.” The ghost Loki looked upon his child-self’s new form with hungry eyes.

Kid Loki pondered these words for a few moments. “You went into oblivion with nothing but the hope that there was something out there?” Loki questioned. “Or that someone would show you the path home?” This plan seemed like a long shot. It may not have worked at all if it had not been for Thor’s sentimentality.

“The people of Midgard have a saying: change or die,” said ghost Loki cryptically. “I would rather die than _not_ change. I would rather be nothing.” His look of spite morphed into a mischievous grin. “Thankfully, it did not come to that…”

It was at that point that Loki fully understood his older-self’s ultimate plan. “You want my body, the body of a child, a clean slate so as to through off all your suspecting enemies and cross those who’s trust you’ve gained.” Loki was enraged beyond all doubt. He would not be a pawn in this twisted game played by none other than his twisted self. He stood up strait and stated with defiant clarity, “You can’t have it.”

Ghost Loki looked amused. “Foolish boy. I am you. You cannot escape me. You are no different from me.”

“I am you,” Loki admitted. “But unlike you, I will change.” Kid Loki’s face was set in stone. With all the authority he could muster he declared, “I am now Loki.”

“You fool! You cannot exist without me. I am part of you’re soul. If I die, so do you.” Ghost Loki stated, thinking he had won with a checkmate.

Loki closed his eyes. He could not allow his evil self to win. He reached deep inside himself to some sort of inner strength in order to overcome his older-self. Loki’s eyes shot open. He felt it. He had found his magic. Emerald eyes aglow with defiance, he shouted at the ghost, “You are done. You are gone. You are now Ikol, my opposite, bird of mine, pet supreme. You are an ear-whisperer and a worm-eater,” the green ghost of elder Loki morphed back into the form of a magpie. “You’ll tell me what I want, and nothing more.”

“Yes, master,” squawked Ikol in his magpie language that only Loki could understand.

“Good.” Loki had Ikol perched upon his forearm. “Let’s get home.”

***  
With a flash of shimmering green light, Loki and Ikol reappeared upon the balcony of the Avengers Tower. The sun had come up in the time Loki had been gone, and shone upon the city with early dawn. Loki hoped the Avengers had not noticed his absence. But upon walking into the penthouse, Loki was greeted by stern stares from each of the Avengers who had seen the flash of green light from the windows that signified Loki’s return.

 _Well this certainly won’t be an easygoing morning_. Loki thought.

“Loki, where did you wonder off to?” asked Thor.

“Yeah, and speaking of wondering off,” started Tony, who could never let his words on any topic go unsaid, “I thought I made it clear you weren’t allowed to set foot out of this tower by yourself.” Tony was fuming, but then he saw the bird perched atop Loki’s shoulder and became even more enraged. “And what’s with the crow?” he asked exasperatedly.

“He’s a magpie,” corrected Loki. “And I didn’t set foot out of the tower. In fact I never technically left it.”

“Then were the hell did you go?” asked Tony, not wanting to get sucked up into Loki’s twisted reasoning as excuses.

Loki pondered how to answer this question for a moment. Then said, “I guess the closest thing to what I was in would be a pocket dimension.”

“A pocket dimension? Really? And how did you get there? Did you’re little bird friend fly you there?” asked Clint sarcastically.

“Actually, funny you should mention that…” said Loki.

“Oh come on!” exclaimed Hawkeye.

“Loki,” Captain America stared him down, “we want the truth. What happened to you and why do you have this bird?”

Loki paused. “You wouldn’t believe the truth.” The Avengers would probably dismiss it as another lie. Even Loki himself could hardly believe what had just happened to him. But then, what if they did listen to what he had to say? Would they think him in league with his older-self? After all, that was the adult Loki’s plan all along: for kid Loki to be his new tool for trickery and deceit.

“Humor me,” said the captain.

Loki took a deep breath and then started, “I was taken to a pocket dimension by means of magic. I did not intend to leave the tower. I was brought there by the ghost of my older-self, the Loki you all know and hate. He explained to me how this reincarnation thing was just another play in his many schemes. He tried to fully merge his portion of our soul to mine, making me no different than the evil Loki of the past who destroyed New York and all. However, I refused him access to my body and bested him with magic. Knowing that killing him would only cause me to kill myself, I transformed him into a magpie.” Loki gestured to the bird that was sitting atop his shoulder, watching every action that came to pass with beaded black eyes. “Everyone, this is Ikol. He is my opposite. I enslaved him to me. Ikol only tells me things that I want to hear.” The bird squawked, and Loki gave Ikol the evil eye.

The avengers just stared at the two with blank faces. “He was right,” said Tony, “I don’t believe him.”

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me,” stated Loki, “because it’s true.”

“If that bird really is the son of a bitch that mind controlled me,” said Clint, pulling out his bow and quiver, “then what’s to stop me from putting an arrow strait through its heart.”

“No! Don’t!” Loki panicked. He tried to shield Ikol with his body.

“You’re gonna defend him?” demanded Hawkeye, pointing an arrow strait for the bird.”

“Weren’t you listening?” asked Loki, exasperated. “I hate him as much as you do. But if you kill him then you kill me!”

Hawkeye looked from the bird to Loki and back again. He lowered his bow. “Fine,” Clint said at last, “just keep that dam chicken away from me.”

“Kid if your gonna keep that… thing here,” said Tony, “I don’t want to see one feather in my building. If that bird shits on any of my stuff then he’s got to go.”

“Don’t worry,” said Loki. “Ikol will do anything I tell him to do.” The magpie squawked defiantly in Loki’s face. “Though I’ll admit, he’s got a bit of an attitude problem.”

“Then he must really be you,” quipped Clint.

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious,” said Loki sarcastically, “But for now…” Loki walked over to the glass doors that lead to the balcony. He held one open. “You can leave.” He said to the magpie. Ikol squawked once more. “Just go,” said Loki, annoyed with the bird. Ikol leapt off of Loki’s shoulder and flew away into the early morning sky.

Stark looked at the kid curiously. “Could you get any weirder?”

“Be carful what you ask for,” said Loki, heading to the kitchen for some breakfast.


	5. To Hel and Back

Loki had thought that his bad dreams were finally getting better. He no longer dreamt as much of the crimes he had committed in his past life. But Loki was a long way from a clean slate. During one particular night, Loki had a particularly disturbing dream. There was darkness all around. Then, a pale grey fog emerged, swirling with what almost looked like the pallor of screaming apparitions. Their screams amounted to nothing more than the sound of wind moving wistfully though a dark valley, echoing off unseen walls.

Through the mist appeared the figure of a woman. Her skin was pale, like that of a corps, yet she was beautiful. Her hair was a midnight black and her eyes glowed green. She wore a helm comprised of dark spires protruding from her head like a malevolent crown. Her robes were of darkest green silk. She spoke to Loki with an eerily enticing voice. “Loki,” she whispered, “You have a debt to pay. The favor in which I granted you comes at a cost. Come to my realm and we shall discuss the matter.” She held out a skeletal key with a glowing green gem embedded in the middle. She pressed it into his palm and then evaporated to become one with the mist.

The dream dissolved around Loki. He awoke in his bed. He did not realize it at first that he was grasping something in his hand. He pulled his arm from under the covers to reveal the key he had been given by the woman. Loki knew who the woman was; he had had several dealings with her in the past. Most recently of which was when his elder self asked her to erase his name from the book of Hel just before he died. This woman was Hela, ruler of Helhiem and keeper of Asgardian souls in the afterlife. If the legends could be believed, she was also Loki’s daughter though Loki knew she had no paternal feelings towards him. Hela was crafty and ruthless, like Loki. Though unlike the elder-Loki, she had honor. Loki would now have to pay her a visit.

Loki examined the key. It seemed ancient, which indeed it was. The glowing gem embedded in it obviously showed signs of magic. It was a key to get him into Hell. _I’m not so sure I would need a key for that_. Loki Joked to himself. But in all seriousness, he desperately hoped that once he made it to Helhiem, he would be able to return to Midgard.

Loki dressed in his Asgardian cloths for the day. If he was going to meet the Queen of the Dead, he wanted to look his best. Then another thought occurred to him; the Avengers. He was not supposed to leave the tower without one of them. However this mission he must do alone. He had gotten away with the whole pocket dimension thing as a technicality, but this time he was going to have to venture to a different realm. Maybe he could go with just the permission of one of them. Which one of them could he trick into allowing him to go gallivanting off to the realm of the dead. It was not hard to deduct whom.

After breakfast, Loki followed Thor back to his room. “Loki,” said Thor, turning to see his brother had come after him, “Do you wish to speak to me?” he asked, a little surprised.

“Thor,” Loki began, “I have a task that I must do outside of the tower. I have vowed to uphold the rules that Stark has laid down and therefor ask your permission to carry out this errand.”

“What sort of errand would this be?” Thor asked skeptically.

“It is one that puts my honor on the line.” Loki widened his eyes so as to play at Thor’s sentimentality. “Brother of mine, I ask you to allow me uphold a promise I have made to an old friend. I am trying to be a better person. One who will not let my word be broken.” Loki faked an innocent expression, widening his eyes even more so that Thor would get the full on blast of their green glistening cuteness.

Thor’s face softened. He looked as though his heart had just melted. “Off course you may go, brother. I will not keep you from fulfilling a promise.” Thor put his hand upon his little brother’s shoulder. “You do not know how much it pleases me to see that you are trying to do good with your new life.” Thor looked as if he wanted to embrace his brother for an eternity.  
Before Thor could grab him into a bone-crushing hug, Loki stepped away and said, “You have my thanks brother,” and left the room. By the end of the conversation, Loki was starting to feel just as emotional towards Thor as Loki was sure he was making Thor feel. He almost felt guilty. But, after all, he hadn’t exactly lied.

Loki went into his room and summoned Ikol to his side. He may need the magpie’s wisdom on this trip. Loki held the key up to eye level. He concentrated on the small glowing green gem in its center. “Take me to Helhiem,” Loki told it. With a shimmering array of colors that indicated a portal, Loki was sucked into the cloudscape, on the highway to Hel.

Tony just happened to be walking by in the hallway when he saw a bright shine through the doorframe to Loki’s room. Tony thought he might have been imagining it. But just to be sure, he knocked on the door and opened it just a smidge. “Loki?” he called into the room. “You in here kid?” No response. Maybe he was somewhere else in the tower. Before he could ask Jarvis, Tony saw Thor coming out of his room and decided to ask him instead. “Hey, Thor?” Tony asked the Asgardian, “Do you know where Loki is?”

“He said he had a task he must do outside of the tower, so I gave him permission to do so,” replied Thor, as if it wasn’t that big a deal.

“You what?” asked Tony exasperated. “Did he say were he was going?”

Thor looked perplexed. “He… did not say.”

Tony hit his forehead in frustration. He could not believe how naive Thor was. Loki probably used Thor’s naivety in order to go wherever the heck it was he went.

Thor just looked at Tony questioningly. “Should I have not let him go?” Thor asked, starting to feel a little worried.

“Gee, Ya think?” exclaimed Tony.

***  
The colors of the portal shot past Loki with amazing speed. With an abrupt halt, the colors dispersed. In their place stood the gloom that was Helhiem. Here it was forever night. Fog clung to the air and swirled here and there with an unseen wind. Pits were scattered across the realm with ghostly figures in them. The more recent ones to leave the land of the living looked almost as they had at their death. The souls who had been here longer seemed as if they had decayed over time. Behind Loki there were fires blazing, though their heat did not reach him where he stood. Those flames were of the land of Hell: a land where the common folk went after death. The Asgaridian’s went to a place far colder.

At the center of Hel stood Hela’s Fortress. A black marble structure, its magnificence seemed to emit an aura of darkness. Loki started to walk up the steps to the fortress when he heard a large growl. Loki turned to see Garm, the giant she-wolf that guards the gates of Hel. Garm stepped forward to inspect Loki, who was petrified where he stood. Surely Garm would not tear him to shreds. She was only there to keep the dead from escaping, not to keep the living from entering. Garm sniffed the air around Loki. Upon realizing he was a living soul, she turned and walked back into the shadows. Loki let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding in. He continued into the home of Hela.  
The Queen of Hel sat upon a black marble throne in a dark, yet grand, hall. She looked just as Loki had seen her in his dream. What he had not realized before was that her right hand was missing, leaving behind only a stump. From what Loki remembered of the death goddess in his previous life, Loki grasped that this must have been a recent development. On the right hand side of Hela stood a girl whom Loki knew not. The girl looked as if she could have been Hala’s daughter. Her skin was pale like Hela’s and she had bright green eyes. Her hair was a cascade of darkness, pinned back by hair needles that might have been made from bones. She too wore a dark green dress; only it was more conservative than the illustrious gown that Hela wore.

“Ah Loki,” Hela greeted with the slightest hint of a smile. “I am pleased to see you have come. Though you look much younger than you did when last you were here.”

Loki bowed in respect at the foot of her dais. “Hela, it is a pleasure to see you again as well,” he said with intended politeness.

Hela simply looked down on Loki, as if inspecting him. She then said, “I do not believe you have met my handmaiden,” Hela said motioning to the girl on her right. “Loki, this is Leah.” Leah just stared at Loki, an unreadable expression on her young face. “Leah is my handmaiden. I mean that both figuratively and literally because she both serves me and is the embodiment of my severed hand.” Hela brushed her left hand against the stump on her right.

Unsure of what to say next, Loki decided to continue the introductions. “And this, my fair Queen, is Ikol,” said Loki, gesturing to the magpie perched upon his shoulder.

“Ikol,” said Hela, pondering the bird for a moment. “Tis an interesting anagram.”

“As is Leah,” replied Loki.

This time Hela did smile. The expression was not long lasting, though. “Let us get down to business Loki. I agreed to strike your name from the book of death as a favor to you. But, as you well know, my favors come with prices. I have a task for you.”

“Please, tell me what it is you would have me do,” replied Loki.

“You must help me to heal my severed hand,” said Hela simply.

“And how must I accomplish this?” asked Loki, perplexed.

“Alas, that is something that you must figure out how to do,” replied Hela. “However, Leah will assist you until you have fulfilled your dept.”

At these words, Leah turned to her mistress and began to protest, “But my Lady-”

“Silence Leah,” Hela held a hand out to Leah. “I have spoken.” Leah did not look at all pleased.

Loki was a little shocked at this. Apparently he was going to be bringing a girl home to meet the Avengers. This should be fun. Then again, maybe it really would be fun. Leah looked about the same age as him. Perhaps they could be friends. “Don’t worry, Hela,” Loki smiled. “I’ll take good care of her. I have the perfect place for us to stay.” Hela simply nodded her head in acceptance. Leah, on the other hand looked positively livid.

***  
Back at the Avengers Tower, Tony, Thor, and the rest of the Avengers were trying to figure out where on Earth Loki had run off to. However, It was becoming more and more apparent that he might not even be on Earth.

“Jarvis, play the video back again,” ordered Tony. They were in the living room, watching on the giant flat screen TV a security video from Loki’s room. The kid just held out what looked like some obnoxious old key in front of him, mumbled some words that Thor said may have been a spell, and went through what appeared to be the kind of portal Thor uses to travel through space.

“This is ridiculous,” said Clint.

“He’s obviously not on Earth,” said Natasha.

“What were you thinking?” Steve asked Thor, who already felt plenty guilty. “You gave him permission to leave without asking where!”

“He said it was a matter of keeping an oath to someone,” retorted Thor.

“That could mean practically anything,” said Bruce, who was trying not to let the anxiousness of the group get to him. Thor put his face in his hands. He would not forgive himself if he had led Loki to harm.

A bright light appeared in the middle of the room, causing all of the Avengers to momentarily jump in their seats. With a rainbow of colors, what they realized was a portal, opened up and deposited two figures in the center of the living room. Thor looked through the light as it dimmed to find his brother standing there. “Loki!” he exclaimed, running over to pick his brother up in a bone-crushing hug.”

“Thor… can’t… breath,” Loki gasped out. Thor took note of this and released his brother who then took in air sharply.

“Loki, where the hell did you go?” asked Thor exasperatedly. He looked and sounded like a mother whose child had run off and gotten lost at a grocery store.

“Actually, Hel is exactly where I went,” Loki said smartly.

“Wait, what?” asked Steve incredulously. “You went to Hell?” After all this time working with Thor, Steve still clung to his religion. Though he had been on missions that paralleled legends of Nordic Mythology, Steve still did not see the Asgardians as ‘gods’. But the mention of Loki going to Hell captured his attention.

“Hel with one L not two,” corrected Loki. “It is the realm of Helhiem, where Asgardian souls go when they die.”

“And what the Hell were you doing in Hel?” asked Tony. If he realized the redundant mention of the word in his question, he did not let it show.

“I have a debt to pay to Hela, queen of the Asgardian underworld,” explained Loki. “In case you have forgotten, I had her do me a favor with the whole not dying and reincarnation thing. A favor like that cannot go unpaid.”

“Did you pay your debt then?” asked Natasha.

“I’m working on it,” Loki admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “In the mean time, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” Loki stood beside Leah and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Everyone, this is Leah. She is the handmaiden of Hela. And when I say handmaiden I mean literally. She is the embodiment of Hela’s severed hand.”

The avengers stared at Leah, a mix of shock and confusion on their faces. Leah simply fixed gazes with each of them, a look of complete boredom and lack of interest on her face. Either that, or she was very good with hiding her emotions. She seemed to remind Tony of a Goth kid.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Hela,” greeted Steve at last.

Leah just stared at the captain with uninterested eyes. “I take no pleasure in being here,” Leah said bluntly and honestly.

“Leah, be nice,” scolded Loki playfully. “You’ll have to excuse her, she doesn’t come from a very… kind place,” Loki apologized. Then he wrapped an arm around the girl and gave her a sort of friendly half-hug. “But I’m sure were going to be B.F.F.s.”

Leah looked shocked for a second at the sudden show of affection. She glared at Loki while pulling away from his embrace. “What’s a B.F.F.?” she asked puzzled.

“I’ll tell you later. For now you have to see some of Midgard. I’m sure Hela never let out before.”

“That sounds like a great Idea, Loki,” said Steve. “I’d like to get out of the tower for a bit, myself. Do you kids want a bite to eat? I know this place that serves the best milkshakes down on Washington Avenue.”

It didn’t take much convincing for Steve to get Loki to come along. Hela simply followed Loki out of the tower with no opinion on the matter. The three of them walked into the dinner on Washington Ave. and sat down in a booth by the window. A waitress came up to them once they were seated.

“Why hello again Steve,” greeted a redheaded waitress who appeared to be in her early fifties. “The usual I assume.”

“Hello Brenda,” Steve greeted politely. “Yeah, the usual for me, but this time my friends and I want some milkshakes.”

Brenda stared at the two children seated beside Cap. She took in their strange clothing then asked “And who might these cuties be?”

“Oh, they’re Asgardian. Relatives of Thor,” Steve explained. He and the Avengers had dined here before as a group.

Brenda pondered this for a moment, then said, “Well children, I promise to get you seconds on anything without you smashing any of my dishes. Does that sound OK?” Brenda’s tone was kind, but it was obvious she had dealt with Thor’s smashing of cups on the ground while demanding ‘another’. Loki and Leah both turned to look at one another questioningly.

After they had ordered, Brenda brought out the milkshakes with cherries on top for Leah, Loki, and Steve to enjoy. Loki sipped happily on his strawberry shake. Leah stared at hers for a while before asking, “What happened to the cow to render the milk so?”

“It was horrible. You don’t want to know,” joked Loki. “The poor thing.” Leah put the straw to her mouth and started to drink.

“Well, how do you like it?” asked Steve.

Leah continued to sip. “It is satisfactory,” she said. To Steve, the milkshakes here were the best in the city. He was sure she was only understating it. Leah was beginning to drain the glass while still on her first sip.

“Er… Leah?” Loki commented. Leah continued her single extended sip.

“Slow down kid, you’re gonna give yourself a brain freeze,” was all Captain America could say. In no time at all, Leah was now sucking the last contents of the milkshake glass dry.

“I think I like this shaken milk,” Leah stated after finishing, she showed no signs of a brain freeze. Steve looked at Loki questioningly. Loki simply shrugged and continued to enjoy his milkshake.


	6. My B.F.F. Leah

Loki and Leah sat next to one another on the couch. They were in the living room on the penthouse level of the Avengers Tower that evening. Loki was trying to explain to Leah the mechanics of the television they were watching. “… So the monitor, that glass screen, displays what these mortals have acted out in a sort of play from far away using electricity—”

“But what magic does this ‘electricity’ operate by?” asked Leah.  
Loki was quickly becoming board of the conversation. “Electricity,” he explained, “operates by science. Science is the only type of magic the mortals are ever interested in.”

“That seems very limiting then,” Concluded Leah. They both watched in silence for a few minuets more. It was not like the show was particularly interesting or anything. Leah began to feel her hair rising wildly as if there were no gravity confining it. She gave a sharp look to Loki, who sat at the other end of the couch looking the other way. “Stop it,” she said sternly.

“Who, me?” asked Loki, faking innocence.

“Yes you.” She shot back. Then all of the sudden Leah’s hair turned a bright pink. “Quit it!” she shouted at Loki.

Loki simply laughed his head off. “Why Leah,” he said with a smile, “That is a wonderful color on you. You should keep it that way.”

Leah looked as if she might explode. However, she quickly contained her rage and gazed at Loki disapprovingly. “You’re magic is so juvenile,” she quickly dismissed, hoping to be the mature one. That’s when her whole dress turned pink. Loki laughed. “That’s it,” Leah said, getting serious. “Do you want to see what real magic is?” Leah held up her hands and burst into green flames.

She was about to hurl a fireball at Loki when both Steve and Tony shot into the room. “I swear, if you kids set my building on fire you are so out of here,” Tony shouted at the two.

“Everyone, lets just calm down. Leah put the fire out,” said Steve in his Captain America tone, trying to avoid a confrontation.

The flames in Leah’s hands quenched and Loki changed Leah’s hair and dress back to their original colors. “Loki started it,” Leah said bitterly.

“Did not,” lied Loki.

“I don’t care who started it. I’m ending it,” said Captain America.

“Damn, Cap, you’d make a good den mother,” commented Tony.

Steve ignored Tony’s remark. “Now it’s getting late you too. Time for bed,” Steve said with finality.

“Aw,” groaned Loki.

“Leah,” Tony addressed her, turning off the TV. “I’ll let you stay in the empty room next to Natasha…”

“Your hospitality is unnecessary,” Leah cut him off. “The dead Sleep. Their keepers are not so lucky.” She sat back down and simply stared at the far wall.

“So you’re just gonna sit there doing nothing until dawn?” Loki asked her.

“That is correct,” confirmed Leah, not bothering to look up at him when she answered.

“Well Goodnight,” Loki said cheerily and walked off towards his bedroom. Cap and Tony both stared at each other, nonverbally asking one another if this was for real.

***  
Thursday is game night for the Avengers. According to Steve, it helped with team building. However, team game night almost always turned into team argument night. Various quarrels arose such as ‘did Natasha cheat and if so how can you prove it’ or ‘how many do-overs does Clint get before he finally has to settle on a move’ and sometimes ‘don’t make Bruce lose a turn or he will Hulk-out’. This week, it was Tony’s turn to pick the game.

“Anyone up for some trivial pursuit?” he asked rhetorically, pulling out the box.

“Awe, I hate that game,” complained Clint.

“Indeed Hawkeye,” agreed Thor. “I am not familiar with these facts that are strictly Midgardian. The cards should include questions of life on Asgard.”

“Shut it, you babies. We’re playing,” declared Tony.

“I am unfamiliar with these ‘game’s’ you play. Would it not be more entertaining to combat one another until a victor stands triumphant?” asked Leah.

“I felt the same when at first I was asked to play these Midgardiarn games as a form of sport, young Leah. These mortals favor games played out upon a table with small pieces.”

“Don’t worry Leah, you don’t have to play if you don’t want to,” said Steve.

“Why does she have that option,” whined Thor.

“Because she is not part of the team,” quipped Steve. “You are.”

Thor looked pouty for a moment then came to grips with what Steve said. Loki, on the other hand, was all to eager to participate in this game of wits. After several rounds, Loki was winning by a wide margin. Tony did not look all to pleased with being second, Natasha hot on his trail.

“Next question,” said Bruce. It was his turn to read the card while Hawkeye answered. “Who first introduced sarcasm into the English language? Was it A: The Germanic tribes, B: The Vikings, or C: The French invaders.”

“Well it couldn’t have been the Germans,” reasoned Clint. “They are way to serious. It’s gotta be the French. Those people seem kinda sassy.”

“Wong,” said Bruce. “It was the Vikings.”

“What?” exclaimed Hawkeye in disbelief. “No way that’s right. Thor can’t even recognize sarcasm,” complained Clint.

“How many time must I tell you, son of Barton. I am not a Viking. Those people were merely mortals who recognized us as both gods and their betters.”

“Well the Vikings had to have learned it from someone,” said Clint. In almost perfect unison, everyone in the room all turned their heads towards Loki, as if accusing.

Loki put on an all to innocent expression. “Why, me?” He said, overemphasizing the sarcasm in his voice. “Why would a god of lies and tricks say something that he may not truly mean?” A mischievous smile spread across Loki’s lips.

“Damn it Loki! You’ve ruined sarcasm for me,” complained Tony.

“Oh I’m sure you’ll find more ways to abuse it,” said Loki, his smile widening. “But after all, imitation is the highest form of flattery,” he said with all false earnest.

“Oh, real mature,” quipped Tony.

“Stark, I do believe you just used sarcasm,” pointed out Natasha.

“Damn it,” Tony cursed to himself. Loki had practically busted a gut laughing.


	7. The Avengers Walk In on a Journey into Mystery

Tony Stark casually walked into the living room one day to find one of the, if not the most, strangest sights he had ever seen. Loki lay upon the floor, sleeping. However, two feet away from him lay sleeping some other guy that Tony had never seen before. This man was strange to say the least. He appeared to be in his early twenties. The man had fiery red hair that was much too long for a professional appearance. He wore a long black trench coat, leather pants, and combat boots. The trench coat was unbuttoned to reveal a shirtless, buff torso seared with a pentagram branded scar that looked as if the hot iron that created it had still left the skin burning. What appeared to be a pitchfork lay at the man’s side. A circle of fire encompassed the two. Standing with her hands hovering over Loki and the man’s heads was Leah. A green aura of magic glowed from the palms of her outstretched hands and cascaded upon the brows to the sleeping figures beneath her. Looking down on all of this was Ikol. The magpie’s eyes could be seen glowing green from atop his perch on the sofa.

The sight left Tony speechless, which was saying something for Tony. His first thought was _what the hell?_ and his second was _why would Jarvis not tell me about this?_

Leah realized that someone else had entered the room. Without breaking her spell, she looked up to see Tony with his jaw dropped nearly to the floor. Leah looked at him, as if waiting for Tony to ask the question.

Steve and Bruce entered the room at that point. Steve saw the scene unfolding in front of them and exclaimed “My God!” nearly jumping with surprise. Bruce took one look at the scene and slowly backed down the hallway into his room. The clicking of a lock could be heard once he closed the door.

Finally, Tony decided to ask. “Leah,” he said, “What is… this supposed to be?”

“A very complicated spell,” Leah replied with an even voice.

“Is this some sort of… ritual?” asked Steve hesitantly.

“In a way,” said Leah.

“Care to elaborate on that?” Tony more demanded than asked. “And who is the shirtless guy?”

Her hands still locked on the spell she was preforming, Leah explained, “That is Daimon Hellstorm. His lineage is not a pleasant one. Supernatural forces are attacking people all across Midgard. A dark power led Daimon to Loki, who is one of those being attacked. Because of Loki’s Asgardian soul and strength in magic, the dark power enjoys feeding off of Loki the most. A powerful Fear Lord wishes to rein above the others using fear brought on by nightmares. As the subconscious of the victims become more pronounced through sleep, Nightmare takes control their fears to strengthen his power. Loki and Daimon are currently trying to save the victims of Nightmare by fighting him off in the dreams of the ill-fated mortals. I remain here as their anchor so they too do not succumb to Nightmare’s dark magic.”

Tony and Steve just continued to stare. The explanation of what was currently happening had not made things more clear. It had only made things more complicated. “I’m not gonna pretend that I understood I understood even half of what you just said. Just tell me that this will all be resolved by dinner,” said a befuddled Tony.

“Tony, didn’t you here, people are in danger,” Steve said. “Right?” He asked Leah unsure.

“Correct,” confirmed Leah, who was now gazing down at Loki and Daimon, trying to concentrate harder. “However, there is nothing two can do. In a few hours, this will all be finished, one way or anther.” Leah’s brow became furrowed with determination. “You must leave now, I need to concentrate.” Ikol squawked at them from his perch, as if to tell them to get lost.

“This is my building. Don’t tell me to—” Steve grabbed Tony by the arm and pushed him into the elevator. The doors closed with the two inside, leaving Leah to concentrate on her spell.

***  
Tony worked in his lab for a few hours with Steve fretting in the corner. When it came close to dinner time, the two headed back up in the elevator, not sure what to expect when they got to the living room. They were mildly relieved at the sight they found. Loki and Daimon were standing upright now along with Leah. They were in the mist of conversation.

“See I told you it would work.” Loki said a bit cheerfully.

“Don’t push it.” Replied Daimon Hellstorm, an unamused look in his fiery eyes. “I don’t like being played, boy.” The man seemed a lot scarier and taller now that he was awake.

“At least the threat has been subdued.” Leah said, eyes closed, rubbing her temples.

“See you around, kids. Hopefully not _too_ soon.” Daimon turned to leave. He caught a glimpse of Tony and Steve. He quickly disregarded their presence. Steve was about to get out of the way so the man could use the elevator, but that was not Daimon’s intent. He lifted up his pitchfork and stabbed a hole in midair. A circle of fire erupted around the whole and Daimon stepped through, disappearing.

“Well he’s a pleasure to be around,” said Loki sarcastically, staring at the spot where Daimon vanished.

“I like him,” said Leah.

“You do?” asked Loki, turning to face Leah. “Why?”

Leah just smiled. “Everyone loves a bad boy.”

“I’m a bad boy,” said Loki, putting on a flirtatious grin.

Leah rolled her eyes. “Not _actual_ boys.”

Tony cleared his throat. “So,” he said, “I take it your mission was a success.”

“In a way,” said Leah, glaring at Loki for some reason.

“Hey, my plan worked perfectly,” he said defensively. “The Fear Lords are now in a perpetual stalemate.” Loki crossed his arms and looked triumphant. Leah just shot him another glare.

“So,” said Steve, trying to break the tension between the two, “Who wants dinner?”

***  
Thor had left to go to Asgard the following week. When the Avengers did not see Loki after his departure, they assumed he had gone with Thor. That assumption proved wrong when Loki came back to the tower a few days later, with Thor nowhere in sight. He walked into the lobby of the Avengers Tower accompanied by six young teenagers. When Jarvis informed the Avengers to the gests downstairs, they all dropped what they were doing and headed for the lobby.

“Loki, where have you been,” demanded Natasha. “We thought you were on Asgard with Thor.”

“Obviously he’s been out partying with some friends,” commented Hawkeye, looking at the group of weird looking teenagers surrounding Loki. One of them looked to be made of metal, probably an iron man wannabe.

“It’s nice to see you guys again too,” said Loki casually. “I’d like you to meet the New Mutants,” Loki introduced.

“You’ve been hanging out with mutants?” asked Natasha.

“Actually, he’s been helping us save people,” said a tan girl with braided hair.

“Yeah, he helped save Asgard that was under this wicked spell which brought the whole place to Oklahoma,” said a dark haired boy. “We were caught up in it and all.”

“Thor has stayed behind to help sort things out,” said Loki.

“Wait a minuet,” said Clint, holding his hand up. “All of Asgard came crashing down on Oklahoma? I think we would have herd about this.”

“Both realms were in a trance,” explained Loki. “Even I didn’t remember who I was. But don’t worry, Asgard is back where it’s suppose to be.” The Avengers looked at one another, confused.

“Anyway, we have to be getting back to Professor Xavier,” said a blond girl in a pink dress.

“Later kid,” the girl with the braids called back as the New Mutants headed for the exit. “And tell Thor we want our car ready by Tuesday.”

“Bye Dani,” Loki called after her. Loki watched them leave then turned to face the Avengers.

“So you really did go with Thor?” asked Cap.

“Yeah, and I saved Asgard,” boasted Loki. “Just ask Thor when he gets back.”

Tony rubbed his temples. He couldn’t take all this freakiness that Loki brought about. “Well at least you didn’t sneak off without permission,” mumbled Stark.

“Oh,” said Loki, just remembering something. “Speaking of Permission.” He pulled out a piece of parchment with elegant writing on it. “Leah and I are going to London.”

“What?” asked Tony, a bit shocked. “London, England?”

“That’s the one.” Confirmed Loki in a cheerful voice.

Steve took the parchment and read out loud, “The Council of the All-Mother hereby decrees to sent Loki Laufeyson to… Camalot? To set right that which has been disrupted… must bring the Old Gods back into power… Celtic Pantheon shall Once again sit upon the throne?” Steve looked up from the parchment. “I don’t understand half of this.”

“Well I’m leaving tomorrow from the J.F.K. airport headed to London. There’ll be a representative to meet me at the Heathrow Airport.” Loki held up a second piece of parchment. “I’ve even got a diplomatic passport. Did you know Asgard is a recognized state?”

It took a while, but the Avengers came to terms with the fact that Loki and Leah were going to leave the country by themselves. How could they refuse an executive order? By the next day, the two were headed to London, and would apparently be heading to Camelot from there.

***  
Two weeks passed before the Avengers saw Loki again. They did not know that he had arrived back in New York until he came trudging into the tower. He met the Avengers in the living room. Thor was with them, back from his business on Asgard.

“Loki,” he greeted, “Tis great to see you again.” On his way to embrace his brother, Thor stopped halfway, noticing the solemn look Loki wore. “What is the matter, brother?”

“Hey kid,” Tony greeted. Something was wrong. “Where’s Leah?” he asked, noticing her absence. Loki seemed to sadden even more at the question.

“Loki,” said Steve gently. “What happened? Did the mission go wrong?”

“The mission,” said Loki, “went alright, not great, but alright.”

“Then what happened to Leah,” asked Steve as gently as he could.

Loki paused a bit before saying, “My debt to Hela is paid.” He looked on the verge of tears. “The Queen of Helhiem has a right hand once more.” With that, Loki stormed off and slammed the door to his room. He had accomplished what he had promised to do. But he had lost his best friend. He found the Holy Grail for Hela. She drank from it and healed herself. As she did so, the girl that was Leah, had disappeared, put back in her original form and place as Hela’s right hand. Loki still remembered her final words. “I’ll miss you too,” he said in response, “B.F.F.”


	8. Loki Rides the Midgard Serpent

Like all dreams Loki has had, they are composed of memories. The memories are hazy, as if seen through the eyes of someone else. But Loki always knows that it is himself in his dreams. Tonight’s dream, however, was different in a new way. It was a memory, but unlike the others, this dream was not a nightmare. It could only be described as happy. There was light in all directions of his vision, as though the happy memory were illuminated by its own bliss.

_There were fields of tall grass all around the two boys and the outline of a magnificent palace could be seen in the distance. One boy looked about six years of age. He had blond hair that blew in the gentle breeze and blue eyes to match the sky. He wore a red tunic with trousers and boots. The other boy was younger, about three years old. He had raven black hair and bright green eyes. He wore a green tunic that was a tad to big for him. The younger tailed behind the older in a game of chase._

_“Come along, brother!” called the eldest boy, “Try to keep up!”_

_The younger boy with the dark hair was almost panting with the strain of keeping up with his older brother. “You walk much too fast, Thor!” he complained._

_“Speed is key in battle, as is strength. That is why I shall be the greatest of them all,” declared Thor, thrusting a fist in to the air._

_“There is more to battle than the physical, Thor,” stated the green-eyed child, possibly too smart for his age._

_“Than we shall see, Loki.” At these words, Thor jumped strait at his younger brother. Loki cried out_ _and tried to move away, but the much bigger Thor was already on top of him. The fight was by no means violent. It was a tame tussle between two brothers. Thor knew he could beat his brother easily. That is why he was not hitting him at all that hard and let Loki get some of his tiny hits to him while Thor pretended that it hurt for the ego of the younger one. But Thor was not willing to let his brother win this fight. Soon enough, Thor had Loki pinned down._

_“Ha, you must surrender now, brother,” said Thor, drunk with victory._

_Loki had a pout on his face. Then he seemed to look past Thor at something else. “Mother,” he cried, “make Thor get off of me.”_

_Thor immediately sprang upright, releasing his brother. He feared his mother’s wrath if she found out that he had hurt Loki at all. Thor glanced behind him to see nothing but the empty field in which they were. Once Thor had turned his head in search of their mother, Loki pounced like a cat upon Thor’s back and they both tumbled to the ground. Thor realized he had been tricked. He was not mad though. Instead he laughed along with is brother as they both lay sprawled upon the ground._

The dream faded into darkness. Loki was sad to see it go. Yet he was not waking up. Instead he stood amidst the darkness in his current form. Thor stood several feet in front of him as an adult. Thor stared at a bright light that was forming in front of him, not seeming to realize that Loki was right behind him.

_“Thor,” boomed the voice of Oden from the floating white light, “You are needed in Asgard. The Migard Serpent has awoken.”_

The light and Thor faded from Loki’s view. He now lay awake in his bed. It was strange how the voice of Oden had addressed Thor and neither had taken any notice of Loki watching. Oden had summoned with Thor the same way Hela had summoned Loki. Then it hit Loki. The dream was not his, not even the first part. He had somehow shared a dream with Thor’s memories of them as children. That is why it had been a happy dream. But the thing that troubled Loki the most is what Oden had said to Thor. _The Midgard Serpent has awoken_. Loki was sure Oden had not meant for Loki to hear this summons and Thor had not realized Loki had shared his dream. But news of the Midgard Serpent was an ill omen indeed. For it was said in a prophecy that only Thor could defeat the Midgard Serpent… at the coats of his own life.

***  
Loki came down to breakfast that morning with a tight feeling in his chest. When he came upon Thor, he felt even worse. The sad, thoughtful look resting upon Thor’s face was all the confirmation Loki needed to know that his dream had been for real. The rest of the Avengers at the table simply ate their breakfast without realizing the troubled thoughts of both Thor and Loki sitting next to them.

When breakfast was over, Thor, who had been silent all morning stood up. “My friends,” he addressed the Avengers, “I must go to Asgard on an urgent matter.”

“But you just got back from you’re last trip,” complained Natasha.

“I’m sure it must be important,” said Bruce, “I hope you are able to come back soon.”

“I’ll go with you,” Loki stated, now on his feet.

Thor hesitated. “I’m afraid it will just be a council gathering. It will be very boring. I would not wish to subject you to that.” Thor put on a fake half smile.

Loki did not buy it for one second. “You’re a horrible liar, Thor.” At this, the Avengers glanced back and forth from Loki to Thor, wondering what was going on.

“Loki, I…” Thor stammered for few seconds. “I will not allow you to come,” he stated with finality.

At these words, Loki was furious. “And _I_ won’t let _you_ die, Thor!” Loki shouted.

“Wait, who said anything about Thor dying?” asked Tony, just as perplexed as the other Avengers.

Loki decided to tell the rest so that they might not let Thor go either. “Thor is going to Asgard so that Odin can order him to fight the Migard Serpent,” said Loki.

“Loki, Thor has fought a lot of stuff with us and he’s walked away without a scratch,” said Steve. “That’s more than I can say for most of us.”

Loki was now frustrated beyond belief. “You haven’t heard of the prophecy?” he asked exasperated. “Have any of you even read Norse Mythology? It may not all be the same as actual Asgardian history, but most of it would really help you guys if you even bothered with it.” Loki took a deep breath and said, “Only Thor can defeat the Migard Serpent. However, in doing so, he will die.”

“Is that true Thor?” asked Steve, arching an eyebrow.

Thor looked down in defeat. “Aye, it is,” he said.

“Oh please,” cried Tony. “Prophecies aren’t real,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Just like Norse Gods aren’t real?” argued Loki.

Tony looked about to argue back when Thor shouted, “Enough! This is something I must do. I have vowed to protect Earth with my life and that is what I must do.”

“Thor, there has to be another way,” Steve said.

“There is not,” said Thor. “I am going and I will not be stopped.”

Loki was enraged. He stormed out and headed back for his room. They could all hear how loudly the door slammed. Thor turned his back on the Avengers and headed out on to the balcony. “Heimdall, open the Bifrost,” he shouted. Just like that, Thor was gone.

The Avengers were stunned with science. “I’d better go check on the kid,” said Bruce. If Thor had really just gone to his death, then that meant that, in his anger, Loki had not even said goodbye.

“If this Midgard Serpent is that bad, then we have to help,” said Captain America. “If it attacks Earth, then we all fight it right along side Thor.”

“What should we do about Loki?” asked Natasha. “Maybe Agent Hill could look after—“

Bruce came running around the corner of the hallway. “Loki is gone!” he shouted, his eyes looking a bit green.

“Jarvis pull up security feed,” ordered Tony.

“There is none sir,” Jarvis said in his automated voice.

“Well, shit” was all Tony had to say.

***  
Loki was clever. He had always been clever. If there was anybody who could bend fate to his will it was Loki. Loki was not only powerful with his magic; he was also clever with it. He had a few tricks that were uniquely his own. Amongst them was the ability to hide himself from the eyes of Heimdall. If the all seeing, Heimdall could not find him, then it was near impossible for anyone else to. In his hiding from Heimdall, Loki had long ago discovered tricks that eluded the gatekeeper. The most useful was his ability to travel through realms without need of the Bifrost. He had used this trick in the past to for his devious schemes. Now, he was using his ability to save Thor. Loki did not often open portals to other realms if he could find a way around it. It required a great amount of magic. There was also the fact that Loki had never attempted this trick in his current, reincarnated form. Luckily, he had both a teacher and a powerful source of magic at his disposal. Ikol had not been very keen on the idea of wasting magic to help Thor, but he had no say in the matter. Ikol would do as he was told (of course, not without a fair amount of complaining and snarky arguments). This is how Loki ended up in Dark Asgurd.

The origins of Dark Asguard are unclear. Some say that it is a shadow cast by the true Asguard. Others say it was once the original Asgard that had somehow fallen from grace. Whatever the case may be, Loki was standing in the library of the castle, darkened by the eternal night that fell over the land. He held a torch for light and Ikol rested upon his shoulder. He searched for a book. The book was long forgotten, but many words within it remained the source of legends and myth. At last, he found the book. Though all the books in the library of Dark Asguard were ancient and practically falling to pieces, this one was by far the oldest. Some spell uttered long ago kept it from turning to dust over the ages. Loki pulled out a long shard that seemed to emit its own darkness. The shard was a piece of the shadow cast by the sward of Surtur; an artifact recovered by Loki on one of his journeys. He opened the book with care. He turned through the vast collection of prophecies, some had already happened long ago, some yet to come. He found the one he was looking for: the one where Thor would loose his life in the final battle of the Midgard Serpent. Only then would the beast that had been a nemesis to Thor throughout many millennia, be defeated. This version of the story would not do for Loki.

Loki wrote in amongst the prose of myth, his own story. It would be a lie, but it would have to be convincing if it were to seem true. Writers lie. Even the original creator of the book, whose name was lost to the ages, was a liar. Lies had to be just good enough to prove true to their reader. The stories that the Norse told were retellings of the lies in this book. The writer was so good at lies that the stories were true. After all, everyone knows that the Asgardians are real and a great hero, Thor, is among them. Loki would simply have to lie better than this author. Loki made it so that Thor could defeat the Midgard Serpent while keeping his life only if Loki helped him.

When his task was done, Loki took a moment to admire his work. He had now cheated fate. The story, the world in which he lived, was now open to another way of events. Now, Loki had to work in order for these events to unfold properly. It would have been easier if he had just written that the serpent would suddenly drop dead of its own accord. But who would believe that lie. It would not make a good story. Loki must now venture to the true Asgard. Like always, he had a plan.

***  
Asgard is a realm whose splendor shines above the other eight realms as a beacon of glory. It was not what one would call a planet. It was a realm that sailed upon the cosmos as a disk-shaped continent. At its center stood a shinning palace of gold. But for all its grandeur, the land was by no means a paradise. The atmosphere was thick with muttering and rumors of what would soon unfold. Thor, their mighty prince and hero, was about to meet his doom. With the clouds of misfortune hanging over the heads of the Asgardians, who hurried from one place to another with hast given to them by anxiety, nobody noticed when Loki showed up in a sparkling clean alleyway of the golden city. Loki had no intention of going to the council meeting that had probably reached an end by now. They would send Thor to battle the serpent. Only he could succeed, despite the cost. But Loki knew of a new way to succeed. He casually walked to the stables, which were completely empty save for the animals in their stalls. Loki strode past the great steads of legend and the beasts from other realms. He was not here for a mount. What he sought hung from a hook in the stall of two monstrously large goats. The goats payed him no interest, but Loki was still cautious not to anger them, for they were known to breath fire. He retrieved from the hook a magic bridal forged by the dwarves. In his and Thor’s youth, he had convinced Thor to tame the most untamable creatures: goats. These goats were the most stubborn there ever were. They were the size of elephants and breathed bursts flames when they were particularly peeved. The bridal was said to be capable of taming any beast because it had already tamed the most untamable. Loki hoped this were true, for he would need it if his plan were to succeed.

Once Loki was in position of the magical bridal, he heard the horn of war being blown. He crept out of the stables and climbed a rooftop to get a good view. Usually when the horn was blown, the armies of Asgard would ride out on the Rainbow Bridge, off to wherever the battle was about to take place. This time, however, there was only one rider. Thor galloped across the bridge towards the Bifrost and his doom. People all across Asgard watched him leave as saying farewell to a man who was already dead. It amazed Loki at how, even though they knew Thor would defeat the Midgard Serpent, nobody would go along to help him fight. However, Loki was sure the Avengers would be at his side, no matter Thor’s protests.

Rather than use his and Ikol’s magic, whose was sourly depleted after venturing to two different realms, Loki used one of the hidden portals that only he knew about in order to return to Midgard. The Avengers would fight alongside Thor, and so would he.

***  
The ground quaked once again in New York. The avengers had assembled and were now in uniform and fully equipped to take on what fate had in store for them.

“It seems that the epicenter of that last quake was closer to the shore of New York than the last few that were further out in the Atlantic,” observed Iron Man.

“Of course the giant monster is headed to New York,” Hawkeye commented sarcastically. “Where else would it go? Florida?”

“Stay focused Barton,” scolded Black Widow.

A portal appeared right in front of them. Thor was deposited on the docks next to where the Avengers stood. Thor saw them waiting there. “I am sorry, Avengers, I must do this myself,” he said with a heavy heart.

“We’re a team, Thor,” said Captain America, putting a hand on Thor’s shoulder. “We’re in this together.”

Steve looked into Thor’s eyes with complete honesty. The rest of the team gave Thor their consent to not let him face this threat alone. Thor, looking rather touched, was about to say something when the ground shook more violently than the other earthquakes. It lasted for much longer until the waves of the New York Harbor parted and an enormous figure rose out of the water. The Midgard Serpent was the size of a skyscraper. It looked like the drawings of mythical sea serpents on old maps. It was a scaly green and had fins that rose out of its head and back. Horns protruded from its head and its forked tong stuck out between colossal fangs. It hissed so loudly that it sounded like a roar.

“Avengers, Assemble,” shouted Captain America. Earth’s mightiest heroes were hitting it with everything they had. Hawkeye shot arrows at the beast, aiming for it’s great big yellow eyes. Iron Man fired repulse blasts at it. The Hulk jumped on to the serpent’s head and started smashing it in the face. Thor gathered a storm of lightening and shot it at the serpent’s belly. They were weakening the monster, but not without angering it. The serpent flung the Hulk off of its head with a jerk of its neck. He snapped at Iron man with his fanged mouth, like a garden snake trying to catch a fly. The serpent’s tail came crashing down on Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. It let out another hissing roar. Thor took a mighty swing at the beast with his hammer. The serpent let out a roar of pain and snapped at Thor who, by avoiding its fangs, was smashed to the ground by the serpent’s tale. If only he could hit it hard enough at the proper angle, he might be able kill the beast. But the serpent was agile. The blows the Avenges dealt were only glancing off its shinning scales.

A portal above the Midgard Serpent opened up. Out of the whole in space, Loki fell on top of the monster’s head. The serpent took no notice of the child who sat between its two horns. The Avengers were shocked and tried to save Loki from the serpent only to be struck down again by the monster. However, Loki did not need saving. He had come to save them. He quickly rapped the bridle around the two horns of the beast. Feeling the magic that the bridle possessed, Loki pulled hard on the reins. The serpent hissed in frustration and tried to knock the kid off. Loki fueled the bridle with his own magic and pulled even harder on the reins. The serpent continued to hiss, but its protests grew less forceful. Finally, Loki had the serpent kneeling its head down like a horse whose reins have urged it to come to a stop.

The Avengers stood shocked, Thor most of all. “Thor!” Loki shouted while restraining the serpent with all his might, “Hit it, now!” Thor took the cue and brought his hammer down upon the Midgard serpent right between the eyes. There was a crunch as the great skull of the beat gave way to Mjolnir. The serpent’s body crashed back into the ocean. Thor was quick to scoop his brother from atop the serpent’s crown before the beast fell.

He landed with Loki next to the harbor where the Avengers were gathered. Thor set his brother down next to him. Loki stumbled and would have fallen if Thor had not caught hem. Loki had used up a lot of energy and magic while restraining the serpent. He had exhausted all of his strength.

“Loki,” said Thor at a loss for words, “How did you do that? Why am I still alive?” Thor looked puzzled. “You saved me,” he stated rather than asked.

“I rewrote the prophecy,” said Loki, who was practically out of breath. “And I used a bridle with the magic to tame any beast. Though I had to use a great deal of my own as well.”

“Loki,” said the Captain, “You saved us.”

Indeed, Loki had risked his life to save his brother, the Avengers, New York, and the world. What Loki had said was true; he had changed. He was a good kid. He was different from the old Loki. This was a fact that the old Loki did not take well to from beyond the grave.


	9. I Win and You Lose

“Loki? Are you all right kid?” Bruce asked Loki one morning while both were seated at the breakfast table. Loki was absent-mindedly picking at his eggs. He had not eaten a bite though everyone else had already come, eaten, and gone that morning. Bruce was the only one to notice. He sat across from the kid while drinking tea and occasionally looking up from his paper to observe Loki. The kid did not look well. It had been a week since Loki had helped defeat the Midgard Serpent. Loki had been happy after that, as were the rest of the Avengers. But his mood had slowly decayed as the days went by. Each morning he woke up looking more tiered and even more troubled. Bruce could not ignore the dark circles under the child’s eyes. He now realized that the kid was not eating. He passed most of his days by staring off in the distance. Weather it was from lack of sleep or complicated internal thoughts, Bruce knew not. One thing was for sure. Loki had been having nightmares.

It took a while for Loki to register the question. Finally he took a quick glance at the doctor then immediately looked back down at his untouched breakfast. “Oh, yeah… I’m fine,” Loki said rather unconvincingly. “I just haven’t been getting enough sleep is all.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” inquired Bruce.

Loki continued to stare down at the table. “No,” he said before getting up and locking himself in his room. Loki face planted onto his bed and groaned into his pillow. He knew Bruce was just trying to help, but Loki did not want it. He probably needed help, but he just didn’t want it. His nightmares were indeed getting worse. The old ones he used to have about his elder self and all the past crimes he had committed were coming back. But this time, there was a certain cruelty to them. He felt the emotions of the old Loki clearer than he had thought possible. It was as if the dreams were purposely shoving it in his face, taunting him. _This is what you did_ , they seemed to say, _you will never escape yourself_. Slowly, Loki’s exhaustion got the better of him and he drifted off into sleep.

_A black and white bird flew through a sky darkened by storm clouds. The bird, a magpie, began to descend upon an outcropping of jagged stones. Before the magpie reached the ground, a bright green light burst from its center. The feathers dissolved into a man. The man’s eyes were glowing with magic, highlighting the green irises. He wore a maddening expression and a golden helm topped with large protruding horns rested like a crown above his brow. “I warned you not to trust me,” he said mockingly. He then laughed mischievously in an all to familiar way._

Loki awoke with a start. The dream had not been a memory. It was a message. Of that he was sure. He got out of bed and headed for the living room. Loki did not know why he brought himself there. He just had a feeling that things would start to reveal themselves all to soon. He found the Avengers sprawled out on the couch watching the large television mounted on the wall. They were all engrossed in the latest Shark Week exclusive. “Loki,” Thor greeted, “You have arrived in time to witness these vicious Midgardian sea monsters terrorizing a few mortals.”

Loki was about to respond when a breaking news update flashed across the screen, cutting off the action of Shark Week and producing groans of frustration from its viewers. A blond lady with a pixy haircut appeared on the screen. “We interrupt your regularly scheduled programs to bring you breaking news that is currently unfolding in Times Square. The Asgardian menace known as Loki is once more terrorizing the city of New York. We bring you live footage from the scene.” The picture cut to Times Square where none other than the adult figure of Loki in his full getup had multiplied and, using his copies, herded citizens into the center of the square. Emergency vehicles were being blasted into the air and several people could be seen panicking. The copies of Loki were stabbing any person trying to escape or fight back. Atop a pile of cars sat the Loki who must have been the original. The cars were bent by magic to form a throne on which he sat, looking please at the chaos in front of him.

The kid Loki watching back at the Avengers Tower was petrified where he stood. He barely noticed the looks of absolute shock on the faces of the Avengers. They looked at the Loki on the TV then at the kid Loki and back again.

“This is impossible,” said Natasha.

“No, its not,” said Loki in a quiet voice. The Avengers all stared at him questioningly.

“Then who is that on TV?” asked Clint. The adult Loki could be seen herding in people like animals, ready for the slaughter.

“That is me,” Loki confirmed. “It’s Ikol,” he stated, body stiff with shock.

“We have to help these people,” said Steve. “Avengers A—”

“No!” Loki cut in. “He wants me. He’s doing all this to bate me.” Loki closed his eyes and clinched his fists, fighting back fear. He then opened his eyes once more revealing them ablaze with determination. “I’ll give him what he wants.”

The Avengers protests were cut off from Loki’s hearing as he teleported himself into the Chaos of Times Square. Though it was only a few blocks, Loki was not used to teleporting himself that far in one burst. But he could not let the Avengers hold him back. He had to put an end to this. Loki would face his older self one last time.

From atop his throne of wreckage, the adult Loki saw the child Loki appear amongst the panicking people. “Silence!” he commanded the citizens. Most turned quiet but one rather unintelligent woman let out a shrill shriek then was silenced by the sinister blade of a Loki copy. “Well, well, well,” the adult Loki rubbed his hands together maniacally. “If it isn’t the very person I was hoping to meet.” He continued to walk forward, the crowd parting for him. “Myself.” He stopped in front of kid Loki.  
Both Lokis knew cameras from every news station were broadcasting this live for the world to see. The famous jumbotron within the square showed the two standing across from one another. There were mummers amongst the vast crowd as they recognized the similarities between the boy and the man. Atop that, kid Loki also wore his Asgardian cloths of green, gold, and black to match the color scheme of the Adult Loki. Adult Loki looked just as he had during he Chitauri invasion. Though something in his physical appearance was off. Kid Loki noticed a certain aura surrounding the man, making his outline look a bit blurred. _He’s not all here_ , thought kid Loki, _he still needs a body… my body._

“Please tell me you want to fight. That would make it so much more fun,” jabbed older Loki, looking down upon his shorter child figure.

“Leave these people alone,” demanded kid Loki with as much authority as he could muster. “I’ll do as you say, just leave them be.”

Adult Loki let out a hysterical laugh. “My, aren’t I a cute lad.” His face turned serious. “You have no leverage in order to make demands,” he shot back at his younger self. “Besides, where’s you sense of fun!” Adult Loki grabbed kid Loki by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground. Kid Loki gasped for breath. “I’ll take your body, believe me I will. But I’m going to make you beg. You are going to beg for me to take control of yourself.” Adult Loki slammed the kid onto the ground. Kid Loki fell on his back and started to gasp for air. “I will not make this pleasant for you.” Adult Loki pressed the soul of his boot atop kid Loki’s chest, making him gasp once more. “But it shall be very pleasant for me. Funny how things can work out when dealing with yourself.”

“If you’re done playing with yourself, we’ll take the kid,” said the metallic voice of Tony Stark. Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers arrived on the scene. There was some cheering from the crowd. Captain America gave orders to protect the civilians. Hawkeye and Black widow began hunting down the Loki clones and escorting the civilians off the premises. The Hulk roared at adult Loki and Iron man aimed a repulse blast at the villain’s face.

“Get out of here,” kid Loki called to the Avengers under the weight of Adult Loki’s boot.

“Silence!” shouted Adult Loki as he wacked kid Loki in the face all to hard. Kid Loki turned his head in pain. He had split a lip that was now beading.

“Loki,” said Thor, addressing the adult version. Kid Loki would have found the fact that his brother was addressing someone else with his name weird if he were not in so much pain. “Brother, stop this madness. I know there is good within you,” Thor pleaded.

“You’re right,” said the adult Loki with a ferocious look on his face. “I had good in me. However, that part of my soul remains within this whelp. It is a weakness that I shall extinguish.” Adult Loki took his boot off of kid Loki and pointed the speared tip of his scepter at kid Loki’s chest.

Captain America’s shield came flying and hit adult Loki in the back of his head. Adult Loki stumbled, his jab at kid Loki thrown off so that the spear, instead of impaling him, made a long gash across the top layer of kid Loki’s cloths and skin. Kid Loki cried out and hunched over in pain.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this rematch,” Adult Loki said in a deadly voice. The Avengers were all over him in no time. Adult Loki cleverly evaded the attacks with sidesteps and teleportation. He made copies of himself that dissolved when hit by Iron Man. He was out of reach of the Hulk with quick agility. He spared with Natasha who was about to kick him in the face when adult Loki caught her boot in mid-swing and tossed her aside with seemingly no effort. Thor threw his hammer at adult Loki. Adult Loki stopped its acceleration in midair and Mjolnir simply fell to the ground. Adult Loki grew tiered of this.

“Enough,” he declared, raising a hand. The Avengers fell to their knees with their arms fixed at their sides. A field of energy surrounded them, trapping the great heroes in a holding spell. They struggled to no anvil in order to break free. “It is nice to see you on your knees,” Adult Loki said with a smirk.

Then, a blast of green energy hit Adult Loki in the back, causing him to stumble and drop his scepter. Kid Loki had gotten up and was prepared to fight. He grabbed hold of the fallen scepter and pointed it strait at his elder-self.

“Finally,” said Adult Loki, a mixture of a grin and a grimace on his evil face. “We’ll do this the fun way, shall we?”

Kid Loki knew this was a fight he could not win. But he would fight nonetheless. “You’ve been a bad birdie, Ikol,” kid Loki said through gritted teeth. Not knowing how the scepter’s magic worked, kid Loki simply used it as a spear and trust it at his adult self. Adult Loki dodged the stab and grabbed the other end of the scepter on the staff-part and pulled kid Loki, still gripping the other end, closer towards him. Adult Loki kicked his younger self in the chest, causing him to release the scepter. Kid Loki stumbled back then immediately dodged spear thrusts directed towards him. He was not quick enough with one and ended up with a scratch behind the eye that ran down the cheekbone. Adult Loki smacked kid Loki on the side of the head with the blunt end of the scepter and kicked him again once he had fallen to the ground. It was clear that adult Loki was simply prolonging the fight just to be cruel. He allowed kid Loki a chance to get up. Once kid Loki was on his feet again he decided to use magic. He shot his adult self with green flames. Adult Loki waved the flames to the side, unaffected. Kid Loki then tried shooting razor-sharp icicles at him, which adult Loki simply swatted out of the air like flies.

“You’re magic is juvenile boy,” said his elder-self laughing. Adult Loki thrust a field of energy at kid Loki that worked as a battering ram, knocking him off his feet. Kid Loki groaned with overwhelming pain and stayed down this time. The avengers watched the scene unfold with horror, unable to do anything while the spell held them in place. “You a are weak boy. It becomes boring after a while when fighting a lame pup.”

With both his physical and magical abilities beaten, Loki had one other weapon: his tongue. He would not lie this time. His elder-self would be able to see through it. Instead he would tell himself something he did not want to hear: the truth. “You do know that you lost, right?” kid Loki said.

Adult Loki looked amused. “Is that so?” he asked mockingly.

“Aye, It is. You need my body. That’s what this is about. You need my body so that you can be the same. You allowed yourself to die so that you would not have to change. That’s the whole reason I am here, to play as a piece in your game. I played and won. I changed. I won and you lost. You may take my body, but never forget it. I win and you lose.” A smile spread across kid Loki’s beaten and bloody face.

Adult Loki’s face twisted into rage. “Then I hope you enjoy your victory,” he snapped back. At that moment, in unison, both Loki’s shot beams of magic at one another. The spells met halfway. Adult Loki had cast a spell that would put his nonphysical form into kid Loki’s body. It appeared that kid Loki had cast a similar spell, one to overcome his adult-self’s spirit just as his adult-self was trying to do to him. Adult Loki knew that his magic was stronger. He would win. However, his end of the spell started to retreat, overcome with the magic of the child. Adult Loki pushed his magic even further, empowered by his hatred. That only seemed to make kid Loki’s spell advance on him even further. Kid Loki’s spell grew all the more stronger until it reached his adult self and finally overcame him. There was a blinding flash of green magic that dissolved the spiritual form of Adult Loki. He went out with a scream so hideous it would forever echo in the ears of those present. Unfortunately, adult Loki was not the only one affected. Kid Loki was sent flying back several feet in a backlash of magic. In defeating himself he had just destroyed himself.

Adult Loki’s holding spell wore off on the Avengers once he had vanished. They rushed to the remaining Loki’s side. Thor looked upon the fallen figure and began to sob. “Loki!” he shouted to the unresponsive body. He took hold of his brother’s body as storm clouds began to gather overhead. Thunder boomed all around them. “Brother, No,” he cried.

Captain America was next on the scene. He put his finger to Loki’s wrist and felt no pulse. “We need a medic!” he called off to the distant emergence vehicles.

“Stand back!” shouted Iron man. Cap pulled Thor off of Loki’s body with a struggle. Iron man delivered electrical shocks through the hands of his armor to Loki’s body. “Cap, help me with this,” he called.

Realizing what Tony was doing, Cap rushed to Stark’s side. Hulk took over in restraining the hysteric thunder god. Steve began to administer CPR. He alternated between tying to pump Loki’s heart and breathing into his lungs. Iron Man administered another electric shock that acted as a defibrillator. Cap did another round of CPR before a sudden jerk in Loki’s chest brought about a large gasp followed by shallow breaths. Cap could feel a pulse once more and thanked God for their turn of fate. “He’s alive.” Cap looked up a Thor. “Thor, he’s alive.” Thor quit struggling and looked upon his brother. There was a steady rise and fall of his chest.

***  
The Avengers took Loki to the med bay back at the Avengers Tower. They hooked him up to the machines that displayed his heart rate. Dr. Banner, no longer the Hulk, treated him. Bruce couldn’t get the IV plug into Loki though. Jarvis’s scans showed that Loki’s biometrics were now one hundred percent like Thor’s. Loki had become completely Asgardian. He also appeared to be emitting some form of radiation that Tony and Bruce could only identify as magic. Bruce cleaned Loki’s wounds and battered body. He put the kid in some fresh cloths once he was done. Nobody knew when Loki would wake, but Thor refused to leave his side. Thor spent the night in a chair next to Loki’s bedside. It was a wonder that the god of thunder’s snoring did not wake the kid up.

Tony and Steve walked into the medical room around noon the next day to find Thor gazing at the still sleeping Loki. “Thor, buddy, you need some rest… and food… and a shower,” said Tony.

Thor continued to stare at Loki without acknowledging the presence of the other two.

“Don’t worry big guy,” Steve reassured Thor. “He’ll wake up here soon.”

Thor turned his gaze on both Steve and Tony. “I never thanked you two for saving him. You have my thanks for saving my brother,” Thor then stared off at a wall. “You have done what I could not. I could not protect him. I promised to protect him.”

Tony decided to lighten the mood a bit. “Let’s just hope it’s still him,” he said jokingly. “I mean we could be dealing with an egotistical maniac bent on ruling mankind with a stylish flare.”

“Are you referring to me or yourself?” asked a groggy voice. Everyone turned to see Loki with his eyes half open and the hint of a smile playing across his face.

“Loki!” Thor exclaimed happily. He pulled Loki into a hug. “Brother,” he said with tears in his eyes. Loki let out a groan of pain at the sudden embrace. Thor let go of Loki with an apologetic smile.

Dr. Banner came running into the room to check on Loki. He started checking his vitals. After a series of medical questions he determined Loki was fine but in need of rest in order to recuperate.

“But I feel fine,” protested Loki, who winced at the pain caused by talking.

“That is the worst lie you have ever told,” declared Banner.

“So kid tell me,” said Tony, mimicking a doctor-like tone. “Are you experiencing any thoughts of genocide, homicide, or world domination?” he asked jokingly.

“Tony,” scolded Steve. “He’s not the other Loki.”

“Actually,” Loki spoke up. Everyone turned to him once more. “To say I’m not the other Loki would be a lie. I am Loki through and through. I did do everything the old me has done in the past. I will not deny it. There will always be that part of me.”

“But,” said Steve, “You’re not like the other Loki at all. I mean you’re not…evil. You beat him.”

Loki sighed and then winced at the pain. “That’s because I found his weakness. I changed whereas he was incapable of change. I beat myself because I stopped being myself. I am still Loki, but I won’t ever do the horrible things that my older-self has done. I changed. That was my winning move. I beat myself at my own game. I won.”

The Avengers just stared at the kid. His words seemed incredibly wise for one so young. Loki was a smart kid. He had always been smart. He was also cleaver, mischievous, liked to play tricks, and prone to lies. That was all Loki. But he was not evil, not anymore. “You’re a good kid,” Steve remarked with a smile. Loki’s smiled back even more.


	10. Old Frienemies

It had been two weeks since Loki had defeated his older self. The beating he took in that battle had been a nasty one and Loki was forced to recover. On Dr. Banner’s orders, Loki was to remain in bed and get plenty of rest. Though he was still in pain, Loki refused to stay in bed longer than a week and was up and moving around the tower by the second week. Thor and any other Avenger present made sure Loki didn’t strain himself too far. Although Loki would admit it was nice to have people waiting on him hand and foot, to stay put was simply not in his nature. He quickly became bored being held up in the Avengers Tower. He longed for some journey or mission or some form of excitement. Finally, he was able to convince Bruce and the other Avengers to let him out of the building. They agreed to a walk around Central Park for some fresh air and then strait back to the tower. Though it was a small victory for Loki, freedom was freedom.

The Avengers and Loki headed out of the Tower dressed in normal civilian cloths. Loki almost broke out into a celebratory run once they reached the streets, but Thor caught him by the hood of his sweater and pulled him back. “Patience brother,” Thor cautioned, “We’ll get to the park soon enough.”

After the short walk from the Avengers Tower to Central Park, Loki was happy to breath the fresh air (at least as fresh as New York City air got). It was a beautiful summer day with sky an azure blue. The team and Loki casually walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the small spot of nature in the concrete city of New York.

Even in normal clothing, the Avengers were easily recognizable due to their hero status. When all of them were together, it became an even easier task to spot them. Though their fans adored them, not many people or paparazzi would swarm them. They were just as famous as any other celebrity, but they were the kind you didn’t want on you’re bad side.

However, a new problem arose. Loki’s image had been broadcast all over the news stations along with his older self who had attempted a massacre in Times Square. It may have been confusing for an average citizen to see a kid version of a super villain fight the older version of himself that everyone knew was an evil mass murder. Yet here came the victor, the child Loki, taking a leisurely stroll along side the Avengers. The kid may have been the good guy in that battle (for what they knew), but mummers of suspicion and the pointing of fingers still followed Loki.

It began to get on some of the Avengers’ nerves. Steve did not like it one bit. When he looked at Loki he was surprised to see the kid continuing on at a leisurely pace. There was no way the kid didn’t notice all the strange, lingering looks he was getting. “Loki? You doin’ alright?” Steve asked.

“If you are referring to the words of misgivings whispered behind the hands of these people, then I assure you I have no concerns one way or the other,” replied Loki with the blissful smile he had on earlier undisturbed.

“Then you must have some pretty thick skin,” commented Tony.

Loki continued walking. “If I let other people’s opinion of me get to me all the time, then I would be more miserable than you could possibly imagine. There is no use in dwelling in such unhappiness. If I want to be miserable, then I would only require the opinion of myself.”

Steve was awfully shocked at this statement, as, he was sure, were his teammates. “You’re not as bad as they think,” Steve said, trying to comfort Loki.

At these words, Loki looked up at the Captain. “I’d have to try terribly hard to be _that_ terrible.” Loki did a sideways grin at Steve.

There was a burst of light as a multicolored portal ripped a hole in the air upon a field the group was adjacent to. Everyone stopped to see a figure, followed closely by another, step through the circle of magic. A woman with golden-blond hair and hateful green eyes stepped through. She wore a green headpiece shaped like a giant M and was scantily clad with green armor. No doubt she was Asgardian. The woman was beautiful, but with her beauty came a fierceness and malevolence. Trailing behind her was a broad-shouldered man in blue and black armor. He carried a giant, double-bladed ax and there was no other way to describe him except scary.

“Loki,” the woman hissed. “It has been far too long my love.” A cross between a grin and a snarl came upon her face.

Loki did not take long to answer. “Amora, what a pleasant surprise. I see you’ve brought along Skurge. We simply must catch up. How about coffee?”

“Enough!” shouted Amora, her hands burst into green flames. “I will take great pleasure in ripping apart this child form you wear.”

“Better than you have tried, honey,” said Loki, as if this were a game.

“Who is that?” asked Clint.

“Tis Amora, the Enchantress. Also known as the goddess of jealousy,” explained Thor. “She puts men under her spells to do her bidding. It seems as though Skurge, the Executioner, is her latest romance.”

“You whelp! I will look over your corps and smile!” the Enchantress shouted at Loki.

“Then lets play,” said Loki, now with a serious face.

“Loki, wait!” Thor called out. The team started to rush to Loki’s aid before the Executioner brought his ax down in front of them, baring their way. The Avengers did not have their gear on so they would simply have to make do. Tony did have his bracelets on and made a call for his Iron Man armor to come from the tower. Steve didn’t have his shield but he still had his combat skills and a strong fist. Thor might not have been wearing armor but he never went anywhere without Mjolnir. Clint didn’t have his arrows so he focused on getting the civilians to safety. Natasha was just as agile as ever and always kept a gun and some knives up her sleeves. Bruce just Hulked out on the spot.

The Avengers battled the might and ax of the Executioner, who would not let them anywhere near his mistress. Loki and Amora were locked in a magical duel.

They shot bursts of energy at one another, creating a massive explosion in between the two. “Why Amora, my dear. You seem to have improved since our last meeting,” Loki commented as a sort of banter.

“I have acquired more power than you could possibly know. You’re old teachings are nothing compared to my new skill,” bragged the Enchantress.

“Then it’s a good thing I never taught you even half of what I know,” snapped Loki.

Loki soon got the upper hand. Even though Loki was a child, he had just as much power as his adult self as a result of his last battle. This is what Amora had not taken into account. She was expecting to surprise a child Loki with diminished, juvenile power.

With a blaze of green flames, Loki had her pinned down. “Executioner,” called Amora, “I need you.” The Enchantress’s summons pulled the Executioner out of his battle with the Avengers. With a mighty swing, Skurge’s ax began to descend upon Loki. Loki shot a beam of light at the magical weapon and the blade shattered into a million pieces. Turning back to the horror-struck Enchantress, Loki smiled his mischievous smile.

With a blaze of fury in her eyes, Amora pounced upon Loki with a fist full of deadly magic. Loki caught her wrist before she could deliver the blow and pressed his other hand against her forehead. Green light surrounding the two began to emanate in waves. The green light of Amora’s magic began to wane as Loki sapped the power from her. She was growing weaker. The old Loki would have continued until she died. But kid Loki was not so cruel. He stopped once Amora was considerably weaker. Loki looked down upon his enemy. He knelt down to her and said, “Let this be my last lesson to you, leave me and my friends alone. If I ever find you attacking anyone else, I shall finish you.” Loki’s voice was deadly serious and he sounded much older in that very instance.

Amora glared at Loki with fire in her eyes, her beautiful features twisted with rage. “You have not seen the last of me Laufeyson,” She hissed between her teeth.

The Executioner, now deprived of his ax, carefully picked up Amora the way a lover might do. There was no love in his eyes though. He was simply the muscle under the spell of the Enchantress. The two Asgarian villains walked though another portal that Amora barely had the strength left to open up. In the next instant, they were gone.

Loki rushed over to the Avengers. They seemed a little worse for wear but not to shaken. They had battled worse that the Executioner before. Surly they would have beat him if Amora had not called for him and Loki declared the fight over.

“Am I wrong, or was that an old girlfriend of yours,” asked Tony, now in his Iron Man armor with the faceplate pulled up.

“Hey,” said Loki defensively, “I’m not the only one around here who’s ever gotten cozy with Amora.”

The Avengers looked at Thor questioningly. “Tis not fair. The witch had me under a spell.”

Loki shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and replied plainly “She’s hot and I was drunk. You know how it is Stark.” Loki smiled up at Tony.

Tony closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. “I never thought I would be having this conversation with an eleven-year-old.”

 


	11. Watching Cartoons

It was a rainy day in New York City. A boom of thunder could be heard from a distance.

“Hey, Thor. Could you keep it down?” asked Stark. He, Thor, Bruce, and Loki were in the living room. Bruce and Tony were collaborating on a science project with one of the Stark Industries tech screens in front of them. They would have been working in the lab had it not been for Tony’s latest mishap with an unbalanced dose of rocket fuel. Instead, the two scientists worked on simulations in the living room where Thor and Loki sat watching TV.

“It was not I,” said Thor defensively. “As you can see, Mjolnir sits upon your small table. It is purely the work of your Midgardian weather.”

“He’s right, Tony. Didn’t you see the forecast for today?” pointed out Bruce.       “Gees it was just a joke,” said Tony, holding his hands up in surrender. He looked at Thor’s hammer resting upon the coffee table. It brought back memories of the night he and the rest of the Avengers had tried to lift it. It was fun, but the whole worthiness factor still seemed like such a load. “Hey Thor. Have you tried putting your hammer in the elevator yet to see if it’s worthy?” Tony asked jokingly.

Thor rolled his eyes. “Must we have this conversation again?”

Tony had found a new distraction from his work. “I’m just sayin’ big guy. It seems like the coffee table is worthy too.”

“Tis magic that you mortals do not understand,” dismissed Thor. “You are merely jealous that you are not worthy.”

“I believe in science. Right Brucy?” Tony nudged Bruce playfully.

“We can argue the physics of Thor’s hammer after we have finished this Tony,” said Bruce in a parental sort of way.

“If I may,” Loki spoke up, “I believe I can give an explanation that will satisfy your scientific inquiries on the matter.”

“By all means, go ahead,” said Tony.

Loki looked up at Tony and Bruce smiling. “The hammer was forged in the heart of dying star. That may very well have supernova that turned into a black hole and thus became a fixed quantum point and the universe moves around it. Thor is the only one with the proper resonance to interact with it on a quantum level. Therefore, he is the only one with the leverage to shift the rest of the universe around the fixed point that is Mjolnir.”

Tony and Bruce stared at Loki with their brows furrowed. Thor looked rather confused at this explanation. “That actually makes sense,” admitted Bruce.

“Science is just one of the most rudimentary forms of magic. You mortals limit yourselves by only studying that one field,” replied Loki.

“Hey, no dissing science in this building,” said Stark.

Loki was becoming bored with the show on TV. “Hey, Thor, pass me the remote.”

“No brother, they were just getting to the good part of this Ancient Aliens program,” argued Thor.

“This show is severely flawed. Now hand it over.” Loki reached for the remote but Thor snatched it from his side of the coffee table before Loki could grab it. “Give it!” whined Loki. Thor held the remote out of Loki’s reach and the two were suddenly in the midst of a sibling rivalry for control of the remote. Tony and Bruce were suppressing laughter at the sight. Loki climbed atop Thor to reach his outstretched hand. In both their struggles for it’s grasp, the cannel changed to a random program.

_“Avengers Assemble!”_ shouted a cartoon version of Captain America on the TV screen. Thor and Loki both stopped their struggle in order to gape at the animated spectacle.

A green cartoon hulk started to smash some cartoon bad guys in a cartoon New York _. “Hulk smash!”_ said the cartoon hulk.

“That’s not what I look like is it?” complained Bruce.

A sleek red and gold animated Iron man began blasting robots with his repulsers. “I think they got me down pretty good,” admired Tony.

Natasha, Steve, and Clint all walking into the living room, discussing their latest reconnaissance mission they had returned from yesterday. They stopped at the sight of what was on TV.

“Tony, what is this?” asked Steve, watching a cartoon version of Captain America smash a hydra agent with his shield.

“Why do you assume I had something to do with this?” Tony asked innocently. Steve gave him a harsh look. “OK, I may have agreed to a cartoon Avengers show. But seriously, it’s very popular with the kids these days.”

Natasha caught a glimpse of her in a sleek black jumpsuit with overemphasized cleavage. “Stark,” she said threateningly, “You are so dead.”

“It’s comic book style, Natasha. I’m not the animator,” said Tony.

“Hey, I look pretty heroic,” admired Clint. His character was shooting multiple arrows at a time from a hover-cycle. “When do I get one of those hover-cycles?”

_“For Asgard!”_ shouted the cartoon version of Thor. His hair flowed in the wind and he wore his winged helm that the real Thor seldom wore into battle. Animated lighting channeled into the hammer cartoon Thor wielded.

“Tis a strange thing to see oneself in this manner,” commented Thor. He was not sure what to think. He did look quite heroic on the screen.

All the Avengers watched on as their cartoon selves battled numerous villains. _“Who could be behind all this?”_ wondered cartoon Captain America. In a swirl of green smoke, none other than a cartoon adult Loki appeared, green cape and horn helmed _. “Tis I, Loki!”_ shouted the cartoon villain.

“What the heck!” exclaimed Loki, sitting on the couch.

_“Brother, Stop this madness!”_ shouted cartoon Thor. An animated battle between the cartoon Avengers and the evil forces under Loki’s control commenced. There were plenty of cheesy quips throughout the fight but in the end, cartoon Loki was defeated.

“I’m not a super-villain… anymore,” complained Loki. “Besides that was just stupid.”

“You’re just upset because you lost,” commented Clint.

“First of all, that was not a real fight. And secondly, that was just bad writing,” stated Loki.

“Oh yeah, what would the real Loki have done differently?” asked Clint.

“How about not revealing himself as the mastermind when he had all the evil forces under control,” pointed out Loki. “He could have just let the Avengers get beaten without having to reveal himself. I admit it would be nice to let your opponents know you are the one beating them up, but He could have just captured them first and reveled himself more dramatically later. I mean, he already had the means to…” Loki continued to point out all the missteps of his cartoon character. He then went into detailed descriptions of what a real villain Loki could have done had he captured the Avengers rather than obviously killing them in the fist place. Loki pointed out that not disarming them was a huge oversight. All in all, Loki came up with seventeen ways the show could have ended had it been a real scenario. By the end of the speech, all the Avengers were glad this fight hadn’t actually happened, or the real Loki would have defiantly won.

“Kid,” said Tony, “remind me never to let you write a kids show. Seriously, you would scar them for life.”


	12. Loki’s Halloween Surprise

It was a crisp, clear October morning. Loki walked into the living room to find Tony and Steve carving pumpkins while Clint hung a banner that said _Happy Halloween_ across the wall. Bruce and Natasha watched on while drinking pumpkin spice coffee.

Thor walked up from behind Loki and gave him a friendly slap on the back. “Good morning, Brother,” he said, continuing on to the kitchen for some food. He must not have put much thought into the strange happenings taking place in the room.

“So, what do you think?” Tony asked Steve as he showed him an Iron man face he had carved into his pumpkin. Steve turned his pumpkin around to reveal an artistic carving of all the Avengers assembling in their gear and battle poses. Tony pouted a bit at being out done. “What If I put an Arc reactor in mine? Iron Pumpkin. How does that sound? Maybe add some robotics and—”

“What are you doing?” Asked Loki, addressing the whole room rather than just Tony.

“It’s almost Halloween. What do you think we’re doing? Carving Pumpkins, putting up the décor and all that,” explained Tony.

Loki let out a sigh. “Why do you insist upon celebrating such silly holiday?” Loki asked.

“Uh, kid. Ever heard of trick-or-treating?” asked Clint.

“On the contrary, Barton. I would prefer both rather than an either or situation,” said Loki smugly.

“Come on Loki,” whined Clint. “You’re a kid. You gotta go trick-or-treating with us. Otherwise it we’ll look like a bunch of idiots being all adults in costumes.”

“And is that any different from what you guys usually look like when you go out of the house? All star-spangled, red and gold armored, and Robin Hood like?” Loki couldn’t help it. Clint had made it just to easy.

“We have an agreement not to go dressed as ourselves this year,” said Natasha. “Right Stark?” she eyed him inquisitively.

“I’m just going on the record to say I never agreed to that,” said Tony.

“This ‘Halloween’ as you mortals now call it is just an ill attempt at the original pagan holiday of Samhain,” commented Loki.

“What’s Samhain?” asked Steve. “I thought Halloween was the precursor to All Saint’s Day.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Oh please. Halloween is a mangled modern name for All Hallows Eve. The Catholic Church simply adopted the original Holliday of Samhain, celebrated by most everyone in northern Europe and changed the name. The same goes for Yule being turned into Christmas and the celebration of Eastra, goddess of spring, is now Easter.”

This confused some of the Avengers. “Jarvis, is he right?” asked Tony.

“Yes Sir,” replied Jarvis. “According to the sources I have checked on the Internet.”

“Hu, imagine that,” said Tony.

“Look, Loki,” said Steve with earnest. “The point is, it would mean a lot to us if you went trick-or-treating with us. Who knows? You may actually enjoy yourself.” Steve smiled.

Loki thought about it for a minuet. “Fine,” he said at last. “But I’m choosing my own costume and you all are not going to know what it is until that night.”

“We already said you can’t dress as yourself,” said Clint.

“Now Agent Barton.” Loki’s grin grew mischievous. “Where would the fun in that be?” Loki turned to walk back to his bedroom. He had a costume to make.

 

***

“Loki, Hurry up or all the candy will be gone!” called Natasha. They were waiting outside Loki’s door on Halloween night. Natasha was dressed up as Cat Woman, Tony was nineteenth century Sherlock Holmes, Clint went as Robin Hood, Steve dressed as a medieval knight, Bruce went with a classic Frankenstein’s monster, and Thor was dressed as Achilles.

“I’m sure there will be plenty of candy,” Steve said. Fumbling with his Captain America shield he had disguised as a medieval shield to go with his knightly attire.

“I know that. I’m just trying to get him to come out already,” Natasha said impatiently. “What do you think he’s going as?” she asked.

“Heaven only knows,” said Bruce. The team thought his choice in costume rather cleaver. Bruce wore green paint that reminded them of his hulk form. Not to mention, Frankenstein’s monster was also the product or a mad science experiment.

“Clint, I don’t think your costume counts as not dressing up as yourself,” said Tony playfully.

“Does to. Besides, Nat wears a cat suit every day.” Natasha swatted at Clint’s shoulder. “Ouch! No need for a catfight.”

“Is this truly how this armor is worn” Thor asked, fiddling with the skirt of his Greek armor.

“Relax Thor. You look just as good as Brad Pitt,” Natasha assured him.

“Who is this Brad Pitt? I thought I was the mighty warrior Achilles,” said Thor confused. Natasha sighed and decided it was not worth the effort to explain it to him.

The door to Loki’s room swung open and out jumped Loki in full costume. He was dressed as a miniature Thor, sporting a red cape, armor, and silver winged helm. He lifted up an exact replica of Mjonlir in a pose much like the real Thor. “Follow me into the fray, my friends in arms. We shall emerge victorious. For Asgard!” Loki pointed his hammer towards the exit and marched passed them with much hast. He had matched Thor’s deep, booming voice and was doing a rather convincing job at acting like the real thing.

Thor felt a mix of pride and embarrassment. “Is he mocking me?” Thor asked out loud.

“Sort of, but in an admiring way,” said Bruce, smiling in the direction Loki had run off.

Despite the playacting, Thor was rather touched that his little brother had dressed up as him. He was glad that Loki thought of him as a sort of role model. He could have dressed up as anything or any one of the Avengers, but Loki had chosen Thor. He obviously put a lot of thought into his costume. It was not one of those cheep ones you could find at the store. The costume looked like the real thing only sized to fit a child Loki.

Thor smiled. “Yes, let us make haste,” he called out, matching the overly dramatic tone Loki was using. “For Asgard!”

“And for candy!” cried Loki.

The team went out for New York style trick-or-treating. Loki got most of the candy because he was a cute kid who had a pretty good costume. The people giving out candy thought it so adorable that a kid had dressed up as a super hero. The whole time the Avengers were out, Loki refused to break character and only answered to the name Thor, which got a little confusing whenever the real Thor thought they were calling after him. By the end of the evening, the team and Loki had pillowcases stuffed with candy. They called it a night and headed back to the Avengers Tower to enjoy their sweet rewards.

“This plunder shall forever be sung of in the halls of Valhalla!” declared Loki, emptying his candy onto the floor in order to sort through. The Avengers all settled down in the living room to rest after such a chaotic and fun-filled night.

“You know kid,” said Tony, faking an upset tone, “It hurts me that you didn’t want to dress up as me.”

Loki looked back at him and smiled. “Well, the night is not yet over,” he said with a mischievous look on his face. In shimmer of green magic, Loki’s Thor costume transformed until he was deked head to toe in miniature red and gold Iron Man Amor. “I am Iron Man, just your average genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” Loki said with a smug, Tony Stark like tone. The room laughed along as Tony and Loki had a stare down.

“That better not be real armor,” Tony said threateningly.

Loki lifted up his hand at Tony to reveal a repulser that started to glow just like the real Iron Man before he was about to blast something. “You wanna test it?” Loki asked.

“Loki, don’t do it,” scolded Steve. He was not sure if the armor was real or not, but he felt a little uneasiness at the thought.

Loki turned his head to Steve then did another clothing transformation and came out looking like Captain America, shield and all. “I’m only gonna say this once,” Loki said with a stern look on his face, pointing a finger to Steve. “Watch your language soldier.” The room broke into another round of laughter.

Steve’s cheeks got a little red. “No one’s ever gonna let that one go are they?” he said while running his fingers through his hair.

“Who’s next?” asked Clint, getting a little excited.

“Just don’t turn into the Hulk and we’ll be fine,” said Bruce.

Loki turned his gaze upon Natasha. “I have been working on this one other trick of mine,” he said with a grin. The green magic appeared again but instead of just changing his cloths, Loki’s whole body transformed until the team was looking at an exact copy of Black Widow. The Black Widow copy had a fully formed woman’s body and red hair. She wore her usual combat jumpsuit. The copy was practically impossible to tell apart from the real Natasha who sat on the couch with her jaw dropped.

The Loki Black Widow turned to the rest of the room with her hands on her hips. “Hello boys,” she said in the exact same voice as Natasha. The Avengers looked back and forth from the real one to the replica, trying to find a difference other than the outfits currently worn.

Natasha’s face had come out of shock and she now wore a rather unreadable expression of seriousness. “Run. Now,” was all she said. The Loki Black Widow’s eyes widened and she/he turned back into Loki wearing the Thor costume. Just the deadly look on the master assassin’s face caused the kid to run down the hall into his room. In his haste, he forgot about his candy and the fact that he could teleport.

The team all had a rousing burst of laughter after that. Loki had messed with the wrong Avenger. After a while they settled down and Loki came back out of his room to rejoin the others. They spent the rest of Halloween night watching a horror movie marathon and eating the candy from trick-or-treating.


	13. Yule Tide Festivities

Jarvis played Jingle Bell Rock on the sound system. Winter was coming and with it brought Christmas. New York had indeed decked its metropolitan halls. The Avengers were in the process of setting up their own Christmas decorations all over the Tower. Bruce was hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree in the penthouse. Dummy and U, Stark’s hand built robots, were out on the balcony putting up Christmas lights. Steve read a book in the armchair while sipping hot chocolate. Loki was spread out on the couch reading his starkpad. Clint was watching a game on TV eating Christmas themed cookies. Thor had taken a short trip to Asgard but would soon be back for the Holidays.

Tony was on a footstool trying to hang up some garland. Natasha was walking past him in a nearby entryway when Tony pulled out a piece of mistletoe and dangled it over her head. “Hey Natasha,” Tony pointed to the plant, “mistletoe.” He made a little kissy face at her.

“Not even in your dreams Stark,” Natasha said nonchalantly then continued to walk into the living room and help Bruce trim the tree.

“Aw, you’re no fun Romanoff,” said Tony with fake heartbreak.

“Do you have to put that up?” asked Loki irritably.

“What? Afraid of a little smooch?” asked Clint.

Loki did not look amused. “I am bothered more by the tradition’s origins than its purpose if you must know.”

“Then pray do tell,” said Natasha.

Loki looked around the room. “Do you not know why you mortals kiss under a branch of parasitic plant in the first place?”

“Now that you mention it,” said Steve, “It does seem kind of odd.”

“It’s because of me,” said Loki with a far off look in his eyes.

“Ick! Now there are some kisses I’d like to take back,” commented Clint.

“Wait, is this some sort of Norse God thing? In addition to being the god of mischief are you also like a cupid or something?” joked Tony.

Loki looked at Tony like an adult would look at an immature child. “Obviously you lot have not taken my advice to crack open a book on Norse Mythology.” Loki took a large sigh before speaking again. “According to Nordic legend, Thor is not the only son of Oden. There is also Balder, Hoder, Bargi, Tyr and so forth. In reality they are more like extended family. Anyway, Balder, a gentle and wise god, was the darling of all the other gods. Frigga loved her child Balder so much that she would see to it that no harm could ever befall him. She journeyed across the nine realms and made every creature and inanimate object swear an oath not harm Balder. Upon her return, the rest of the gods thought it amusing to test Balder’s new invulnerability. They cut at him with swords and tried lighting him on fire, but nothing harmed Balder. It became a game, a most unwise game. Balder cold not be crushed by stones thrown at him or draw blood from spears that tried to pierce him. Balder seemed untouchable… until Loki came along.” Loki looked down at the floor. “Loki, a cleaver god who loved tricks,” Loki continued to refer to himself in the third person, “came up with an idea in order to ‘win the game’. He fashioned an arrow from a branch of mistletoe and headed to where all the other gods trying their weapons on Balder. Loki did not shoot the arrow. That would have been too easy. Instead, he tricked his blind brother, Hoder, god of winter, into firing the arrow. He guided Hoder’s hand until the branch of mistletoe pierced the heart of Baldar. Frigga broke down in tears. In her travels to secure Baldar’s safe being, she had seen a bush of mistletoe but had not thought to make it swear an oath. The plant seemed so harmless until that point. Frigga’s tears became the mistletoe’s white berries. She then decreed that from that day forth, no harm shall ever again come from mistletoe. Instead, all those who see it, must show affection and kiss, to honor the memory of Baldar.” Loki looked very depressed now. He stared at the floor as if seeing images in the carpet.

The room was silent. Steve decided to speak up. “Well that’s just a story, right?” he asked. “It’s not real is it? It’s just a myth.”

Loki continued to stare at the ground. He took a while before saying “It’s as real as any other myth.” At that, he got up, and walked to his room without looking at anyone.

Tony stared after him. Sure the old Loki had done some bad stuff, but the kid had to stop beating himself up over what his past life had done. Feeling guilty, he tossed the mistletoe decoration into the trash.

 

***

“Loki, are you awake yet?” Steve stood outside Loki’s bedroom door knocking on it. “You’re breakfast is getting cold… and it’s almost time for lunch,” he called. The kid had days where he would sleep in but he was usually awake by now. When Tony Stark wakes up before any sane human being then there must be something wrong. Perhaps Loki was sick. “Loki?” Steve called again. Upon hearing no answer, Steve decided to go in anyway. He looked about the room. It was empty. “Not again,” groaned Steve. He was about to go tell the others when he saw a note placed on Loki’s nightstand. It read,

 

Gone Christmas shopping. Be back in about three days.

-Loki

 

Steve went to fetch the other Avengers and show them the note.

“A few days?” Clint wondered out loud. “What kind of Christmas shopping is he doing?”

“We have to go find him,” declared Steve.

“Maybe we should give him some time,” said Bruce. The room turned to stare at him. “He said he’d be back in about three days. Let’s give him at least seventy-two hours before we start to panic.”

“Are you kidding?” asked Natasha. “Who knows what kind of trouble Loki could get himself into in three days?”

“What do you think Thor?” asked Steve. This was his call.

Thor pondered the matter for a moment before saying, “I assure you that I wish to protect my brother from most anything. However, Loki has shown that even though he is but a child he possesses a great deal of resourcefulness.”

“There is also the fact that we have no clue where he’s gone or where to look for him,” added Tony.

Thor’s expression showed that he was lost in thought. He then grew a smile and said finally, “I trust him.”

 

***

The Avengers were siting in the living room on the third day of Loki’s absence. Whit a small whooshing sound a portal opened up in the penthouse and Loki walked out of it. He looked a little worse for wear. Loki’s cloths were a bit torn and singed around the edges. There were spots of dirt and soot on him. In addition to his ragged appearance, Loki looked and felt utterly exhausted.

“Where have you been?” asked Steve. “What happened to you?”

“Christmas shopping,” replied Loki. “You wouldn’t believe how hectic it gets this time of year.” Loki made a playful smile that was somewhat diminished by his tired eyes.

“Then where are all the gifts you bought?” countered Tony.

“First off, money is not the only way to obtain gifts. And I am not suggesting a theft of any sorts,” replied Loki. “Second, I don’t want to ruin the surprise for everyone. You’ll just have to wait until Christmas.” Loki stretched a little bit. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go lay down for… a while.” Loki headed over to his room.

Thor got up from the couch and followed Loki back to his room. He wanted to check on his brother and make sure that he was all right. By the time that he got to his brother’s room, Loki had collapsed on his bed and was now sound asleep while still fully dressed. That must have been one heck of a shopping trip.

 

***

Loki awoke early on Christmas day. He was just as giddy and excited about Christmas as any kid his age. He ran over to Thor’s room and jumped atop his older brother. “Wake up Thor! It’s Christmas!” yelled Loki.

Thor, a bit startled at the sudden attack instinctively snatched Mjolnir off the bedside table. He stopped immediately when he saw that it was Loki who woke him up. Loki looked a bit scared and held his hands in front of his face in order to shield himself from the hammer. “Loki? Forgive me brother. I simply was not expecting to be awakened so suddenly.”

“Well hurry and get up, Thor,” Loki said once more, abandoning his shock and becoming excited once more. “It’s Christmas!”

Loki went on to wake up the rest of the Avengers. Given what had almost happened with Thor, he was especially careful not to surprise them too much else he end up with an arrow in his chest from Clint or a bullet from Natasha.

Loki was not the only one to feel the excitement of Christmas day. One was never too old for Christmas. Everyone in the Tower was soon up and gathered around the tree sipping on hot chocolate and ready to open presents. The Avengers began the process of giving one another gifts with Loki included. Loki wanted his presents for the Avengers saved for last.

“So where are the present you got for us?” asked Clint. All the presents under the tree had now been opened.

“I hid them in a pocket dimension so that none of you could go peaking,” said Loki as if it weren’t that big of a deal. He walked over to where Clint sat and stuck his hand into the air. Part of his arm disappeared into a hole in space and came out with a long rectangular package wrapped in black with purple ribbon. “This one is you,” he offered the present to Clint. A little weary, Clint unwrapped it to reveal an intractably wrought silver bow and three gold arrows.

“Is this real?” he asked, holding up the bow as it shimmered in the light. It was the same size as his others except it could be described as nothing less but beautiful. He pulled at the silver string of the bow and it bent oh so perfectly to his touch. He then inspected the golden arrows that sported medieval looking tips. They were light and perfectly balanced.

“It’s an elven bow from Alfheim, realm of the light elves,” explained Loki. “They are some of the finest archers in the universe and I was able to purchase one of their bows. The arrows are enchanted. Before you fire one just tell it what you want it to do such as change into a ball of fire, explode, or freeze something.”

Clint was at a loss for words. This gift was so incredible it hardly seemed real. He opened his mouth to thank Loki but no words came out. He was dumbstruck.

Loki moved on to Natasha. He reached his hand into the pocket dimension once more and pulled out a present with shiny black wrapping paper and a red bow. Natasha opened it to reveal a beautiful necklace with a very large colorful gem in the middle. It was absolutely beautiful. “I’m sure your wondering why I got you jewelry. Though it would make a good accessory, you have to try it on to discover its true purpose.”

Natasha examined the necklace hesitantly. She decided to do as Loki said, hoping he wasn’t playing a trick on her. She put the necklace around her neck.

“Now touch the stone,” Loki instructed.

Natasha gently pressed a finger to the gem and disappeared.

“What the?” Clint exclaimed.

“What happened?” cried Natasha’s voice though she could not be seen.

“Natasha where are you?” asked Clint.

“Press the stone again,” Loki instructed once more.

Natasha appeared in the same spot she had disappeared in. “What just happened?” she asked, a little shaken.

“It’s an enchanted amulet from Alfheim. Every time the person wearing it presses a finger to the stone they turn invisible and reappear when they press it again. I figured it may come in handy for a master assassin on a stealth mission,” said Loki with a hopeful smile.

“It actually would come in handy,” said Natasha, staring down at the multicolored stone. “Thanks,” she said, looking up at Loki.

Loki beamed with pride. He then stepped in front of Tony. Loki reached with both hands into the unseen portal this time and with a bit of effort pulled out a rather large rectangular present wrapped in red with gold ribbon. After seeing what Clint and Natasha had gotten, Tony tried to mask his excitement as he pulled back the wrapping paper to his present. It appeared to be a large block of some sort of silvery metal. Curious, Tony inspected it further by trying to lift it and knocking on it. “It’s a block of Uru metal that I got from the dwarves in Nidavellir,” Loki explained. “It’s the same kind of metal that Thor’s hammer is made of.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Jarvis, scan the metal, please,” he asked the AI.

“The substance does not appear on the periodic table. It does, however, match the same readings as Thor’s hammer,” replied Jarvis.

“I brought enough for you to make a suit out of it if you want,” said Loki. “Uru has magical properties and will take on any purpose a spell gives it when it’s being forged. But I figured you would want it because it’s also impervious to any form of magical attack.”

“I’ll be in my lab if anyone needs me.” Said Tony, excited to start working on a new project. He struggled to pick up the giant chuck of metal. “Can somebody get Dummy over here?”

“Tony,” Steve scolded. “You can play with your new toy another day. Stay here and celebrate Christmas with the rest of us.”

“Yes mom,” said Tony with a fake pout.

Loki moved on to Bruce. He reached into the pocket dimension and pulled out a gift wrapped in green with purple ribbon. As Bruce was opening it Loki said “This one is also from Vanaheim,” Bruce opened the box to reveal a rather strange looking plant. Loki went on to explain, “It’s a magical herb that I guarantee you will suppress future unwanted Hulk episodes. We can test it now if you want?” asked Loki with a grin.

“Let’s not. I’ll take your word for it,” said Bruce, chuckling a bit. He continued to examine the unearthly plant. Looking up he said, “Thank you, Loki. This is very thoughtful.”

“Anything to keep you from making another crater with my face,” joked Loki. “And now for my favorite bother.” Loki reached out again and pulled out a present wrapped in silver paper with a red bow. Thor opened it and instantly the room was filled in the sweet aroma of heavenly food. Inside the box were an assortment of meats and a small barrel of ale. Thor’s mouth began to water most vigorously. “Is this? It can’t be—” he stammered.

“Food from the feast halls of Valhalla. It is indeed Thor.”

Thor looked up at the Loki, fighting the urge to eat the food on the spot. “But, Loki? Only those who have died in gloriously in battle can get to Valhalla. How were you able to acquire food from its banquet hall?” Thor asked, flabbergasted.

“I pulled some strings with a certain Valkyrie who owed me a favor,” replied Loki nonchalantly.

“Many thanks brother,” said Thor happily.

“Now, last but not least,” Loki turned to Steve. “Your present is from Midgard, but I assure you that it was the hardest to obtain,” said Loki with a large grin on his face. Loki looked down at his watch. “It should be arriving in exactly three seconds.”

Exactly three seconds later, Jarvis’s voice came in on the speakers “Sir, there is a—”

“Shush! Jarvis, I want it to be a surprise. Send the ‘gift’ up to our floor.”

“Very well sir,” replied Jarvis.

“Loki,” said Steve. “What’s this all about?”

“You’ll see,” replied Loki, staring at the elevator doors.

A few moments later there was a ding and the elevator doors parted. Out stepped none other than the Winter Soldier, James Buchanan Barnes.

“Bucky!” Steve exclaimed excitedly and rushed over to his friend and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug. Steve had been searching everywhere for his former WWII buddy after he found out that he was really the Winter Soldier. After exhausting all of SHEILD’s resources he had not come anywhere close to finding him. But Loki had somehow managed to track down Bucky and bring him to the Avengers Tower on Christmas Day. Bucky was a little uneasy at being there and heaven only knows how Loki convinced him to come. Steve was the happiest he had been since coming out of the ice. Bucky joined in the Christmas celebration at the Avengers Tower that day. There was plenty of joyous laughter and feasting. All the Avengers were truly touched by how thoughtful Loki’s gifts were. It was without a doubt the best Christmas Loki had ever had.

 


	14. Skiing with a Frost Giant

It was late January that Tony announced to the team that they would all be taking a winter vacation. Steve thought it would be a good idea for a team building exercise. There had been no world-threatening attacks lately and the Avengers were becoming stir-crazy in the tower. Stark owned a mountain retreat in Aspen and according to the forecast, the recent snowfall was perfect for a skiing. Soon, the Avengers and Loki found themselves on Stark’s private jet as it made its way west into the mountains of Colorado.

Tony’s mountain retreat was nestled amongst the slopes. The structure had a rustic mountain exterior mixed with a modern and very Stark-like twist. It clung to the mountainside much the way his Malibu mansion clung to a seaside cliff. It had a spectacular view of the surrounding valley and had plenty of space for visitors. The interior was quite large but still maintained a cozy warm-yourself-by-the-fire feel to it. And, off course, the cabin had Jarvis installed.

Loki could hardly contain his excitement. He had played it cool up until the point when the hummer limo reached the yard of the mountain mansion. The vehicle had not quite come to a complete stop in the roundabout driveway when Loki pushed himself out of the door and ran into the snow. He loved snow and he loved being cold. Loki quickly took off his gloves, jacket, hat, boots, and socks until he was in nothing more than a T-shirt and some ski pants. He dropped down into the snow and enjoyed the icy feel on his skin. He even considered doing a snow angel while lying there.

The Avengers filed out of the hummer limo and gazed upon the spectacle. “Loki,” Thor boomed, “Put your clothing back on. It is far too cold to be without the proper attire.”

“This feels so good,” was all Loki said in response as a huge grin spread across his face.

“Loki, you should listen to Thor. You could get frost bite,” said Dr. Banner.

“Mmmm,” Loki groaned with delight as he settled more comfortably in the snow. Suddenly, his body began to take on an unintentional transformation. His skin slowly faded from his usual pale tone to a bright blue. Patterns appeared across the blue skin as well. Loki’s eyes turned red and what appeared to be two small horns stuck out from his forehead.

“Holy shit, kid! You are blue. Literally,” exclaimed Tony as the rest of the Avengers gapped at the strange sight.

Loki sat up and looked down at his hands. They were most diffidently blue. Being in the snow must have triggered his true Frost Giant form by accident. “Would you look at that,” said Loki, obviously not perturbed by the event. “Well now I guess you all see me as how I am suppose to look.”

“What the heck?” asked Clint, still in shock. “What are you talking about?”

Thor spoke up. “I did tell you that Loki was adopted,” Thor explained. “He is not originally of Asgard. Loki hails from Jotunheim, Realm of the Frost Giants.”

“Frost Giants?” Clint asks, walking over to Loki. “There is nothing giant about him.”

“Very acute observation Barton,” replied Loki, rolling his red eyes. “A trait that caused my birth father, King Laufey, to throw me out into the cold to die.”

Clint’s face fell. He did not mean to get that personal. Tony, on the other hand, continued to push for more answers. “So besides the whole size thing, this is what Frost Giants look like?” Tony asked.

“Yes,” replied Thor. “A full grown Frost Giant reaches about twelve to fifteen feet. They are born with blue skin etched with tribal patterns and have red eyes. The males sport large horns when fully grown.”

“Is that what these things are suppose to be?” said Tony, pinching the tiny stubs of horns above Loki’s forehead.

“Watch it Stark!” Loki swatted Tony’s hand away from his horns.

“Ouch,” Tony clutched his hand and tried to warm it up. “You nearly gave me frost bite?”

Loki was starting to get a bit enraged. “I will do much worse than that if you mortals continue to mock and speak of me as some sort of spectacle!”

“Uh oh,” Clint laughed. “Looks like we’ve angered Loki, the Littlest Frost Giant.”

That did it. Loki’s red eyes glowed the way his green ones would when he was pumped full of potential magic. “You dare incur the wrath of a Frost Giant while knee deep in this icy winter.” Loki sounded a bit overdramatic but the Avengers could not tell if he was joking. He may have been, but trouble was no doubt coming. “I proclaim war upon the Avengers. Let us see how you fare against the son of Laufey.” With absolutely no hesitation snowballs were hurled into the faces of the Avengers all at the same time.

“Get down,” shouted Cap. He grabbed a lid from a nearby trashcan, using it as a makeshift shield. Loki used his magic to create a platform of ice where he towered above the Avengers. He breathed in he cold air that was fueling his strength and laughed maniacally. This may have been a game, but the Avengers were determined to win this battle. “Clint, I’m going to need you get some Hawkeye accurate shots at Loki. Tony, you cover him. Natasha, see if you can sneak up on him from behind. Thor, try to divert his attention. Bruce…uh… go inside and warm up some hot chocolate for when we’re done,” Steve was in full on Captain America mode and giving orders as if this were a real battle. “Avengers, assemble!” he shouted and everyone took their assigned positions.

Loki stopped the snowballs sent by Hawkeye and sent them hurling back with even more momentum. Countless snowballs pelted Hawkeye and Iron Man. Captain America jumped in front of them with his trashcan lid shield, trying to divert the worst of the attack.

Loki knew all to well that when one does not see Natasha, she is most probably behind you. Loki put up a sheet of ice in between him and the oncoming attack from Black Widow. Instead of kicking Loki off his miniature ice fortress, Widow smacked her foot into solid ice and let out a gasp of pain. “Damn it, Loki!” she cried out.

“You’re not as good at sneaking up on me as you once were, Natasha,” called Loki.

“Loki, stop! This game has gotten out of hand,” shouted Thor to his Jotunn little brother.

Loki was all to enthrall in the game. “Do I hear the sounds of defeat from an Odenson?” he mocked. “Do the mighty Avengers concede to the will of Loki?”

“Not today!” shouted Captain America. He hurled a rather large snowball at Loki that Tony had built. With the engineer’s skill and the super soldiers strength, it made a very effective WMD.

Loki had no time to deflect it so he simply shot a wave of magic at its center and the giant snowball burst into a thousand little flakes. Loki froze the feet of the Avengers where they stood. “Kneel before me!” he shouted with a hysterical laugh.

“Oh shit, he finally lost it!” said Clint. “Natasha! I called it. You owe me fifty bucks.”

Loki flicked a finger and a heap of snow covered Clint from head to foot.

“Loki! Please unfreeze us,” asked Steve, a bit on the chilly side.

“Ah, but Captain, I thought you liked the ice,” quipped Loki. Tony laughed at the comment but a harsh look from Steve shut him up.

“Loki, release us this instant,” growled Thor.

“Is that a surrender?” asked Loki.

“If I say yes, will you please unfreeze us?” asked Tony, staring to shiver.

“Ha, I have beaten the mighty Avengers, Earth is now mine!” cried Loki victoriously. With a wave of his hand, the ice platform he was standing on lowered until it had disappeared. The ice encasing the lower half of the Avengers melted and Loki sent a wind towards Hawkeye that blew the pile of snow off of him. Shivering, their cloths soaked with icy water, the Avengers were defeated and exhausted.

“Yeah,” Loki fist pumped into the air. “Who’s up for round two?” he asked, drunk on his victory.

“Sh-sh-shut u-up and p-p-put your c-cloths on!” said Clint, shivering.

“M-maybe Bruce h-has the h-h-hot ch-ch-chocolate re-ready,” said Steve. They all walked toward the cabin, ready to sip hot chocolate by the fire.

 

***

“Damn kid,” said Tony. “I think you gave me frost bite.” He massaged his toes that looked a light shade purple.

They were sitting in the living room of the cabin chowing down on hot chocolate and trail mix. The fire roared in the hearth and numerous sets of socks and long johns hung on the fireplace gate drying. Everyone was bundled in warm blankets except for Loki. He was still barefoot but the cold didn’t bother him. As Loki relaxed on the sofa, his Jotunn form slowly faded back into his regular appearance. The blue skin gradually changed back into his pale skin color and his red eyes turned their signature bright green once more.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice before angering a Frost Giant into a snow ball fight,” said Loki smugly.

“Maybe next time we’ll let the Hulk play too,” threatened Tony.

“Please leave me out of this,” said Bruce, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Just do us a favor, Frosty, and try not to turn all blue skinned when we’re on the slopes tomorrow,” said Tony.

“Oh, please,” Loki dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I don’t need to be in my Frost Giant form to make you eat my powder.”

“Have you ever even skied before?” Natasha asked Loki.

“No,” said Loki dismissively. “Besides, I think I’ll try snowboarding instead.”

“Lets make a deal,” said Tony, knowing Loki could not resist a bet. “Fist one down the mountain gets the master bedroom for the rest of the trip. Last place has to shovel snow off of the drive.”

“You’re on,” said Loki. His eagerness sort of made Tony regret this already.

In the end, Loki snowboarded circles around the Avengers (literally) topping his moves off with a few flips on the double diamond slope. Later on, Loki greatly enjoyed reading while snuggled up in the king-sized bed of the master bedroom while Tony was left shoveling the spacious driveway. Apparently this is what happens when you go skiing with a Frost Giant. _Next year we’re going to Tahiti_ , thought Tony bitterly, while shivering his ass off in the cold.


End file.
